NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Marvin Jean-Pierre scored 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting and sixth-seeded Louisiana-Monroe beat No. 11 seed Arkansas State 76-54 in a first round game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Wednesday night.

Louisiana-Monroe (16-14) advances to play No. 3 seed Georgia Southern Friday night. Arkansas State (11-21) swept Louisiana-Monroe during the regular season and ended it with an 83-79 win over the Warhawks on March 3.

With the Warhawks up 16-14, Travis Munnings made a 3-pointer and followed with a layup and Louisiana-Monroe proceeded to outscore Arkansas State 23-11 over the last 8:50 of the first half. Munnings made 6 of 7 from the field for all 13 of his points while the Warhawks shot 17 of 29 (58.6 percent) and led 39-25 lead at intermission.

Michael Ertel's jump shot a little more than a minute into the second half started an 18-7 run and Louisiana-Monroe cruised from there. Ertel finished with 12.

Ty Cockfield led the Red Wolves with 18 points and Arkansas State missed 40 of 60 shots from the field.

Arkansas State Notes
• After shooting a combined 47.8 percent (22/46) from behind the arc in their first two wins against the Warhawks, the Red Wolves shot a dismal 25 percent (4/16) from three.
• The Red Wolves finished the season 3-16 when trailing at the break.
• Arkansas State’s 22-point loss to the Warhawks was their second worse losing margin of the season—Georgia Southern beat them by 31 on February 3rd.
• Arkansas State is now 0-4 in the Sun Belt Tournament under a first year head coach.
• The Red Wolves ended the season winless (0-9) when they shot between 30-39 percent.

ULM Notes
• The Warhawks controlled the tempo from the very beginning, never once relinquishing the lead.
• The Warhawks are 9-1 when they shoot 50 percent or better from the field, with their only loss coming against the Red Wolves in the regular-season finale.
• Marvin Jean-Pierre had a game high 23 points on 76.9 percent shooting (10/13). His 23 points and 10 made field goals both tied career highs.
• The Warhawks limited the Red Wolves to only eight assists, the lowest amount by an opponent since December 26th 2017.
• The Warhawks have now won seven of their last nine games, including a five game winning streak that lasted from February 8th to February 24th.

Quotes

ULM Head Coach Keith Richard

Opening Statement:
“Obviously I’m certainly happy that we are moving on to the next round. Arkansas State has been a tough conference matchup for us in the season. We lost to them twice. We had a really hard time in my opinion in those two games. In two of the halves in the past four halves we’ve had a hard time guarding them defensively. And it really caused us some problems in some areas. I thought tonight we played tremendous defense, for us. It was probably as good of defense that we could possibly play which helped us on offense. You know we go from giving up 50 points in a half on Saturday in the first half to 54 points for the game. That’s pretty good defense and against a team that’s tough for us, in particular to guard. And to me that’s the story of the game. I know we did some good things on offense and that type of stuff, but to me the defense is what did it.”

Once Arkansas State’s 3-pointers weren’t going you played out of the box a lot more than what you guys normally do at that point you knew you could control the paint, is that what you guys dictated?
“We moved out our defense out more than what it was last Saturday and our emphasis was to close out a step further than we did Saturday to the 3-point line. Which we knew they were going to put the ball on the ground after that. This is the saga we had playing them the two other times. And I thought that Sam Alabakis did a tremendous job altering shots down there without fouling and that was just as big of a key as us running them off the 3-point line sometimes that him not fouling, showing a wall you know and not necessarily blocking shots, but altering and us securing the rebound after that. So it went hand and hand and Sam Alabakis played a big  part in that defense.”

Coach what do you believe is the biggest emphasis you guys placed in such a short amount of time to have such a big difference in the outcome of the game?
“We used the same plan with the adjustments that we made Saturday at halftime. We just fueled on that showed the film and made those minor adjustments.”

Arkansas State Head Coach Mike Balado

Opening Statement:
“When you let a team shoot almost 60 percent in the first half, you are going to get down.  I just thought that because the way we’ve been all year – this team has never quit – I was hoping we had a run somewhere in us in the second half and it never came.  I give them all the credit in the world, Coach Richard is an excellent coach and they did an excellent job on us defensively.  We shot an awful percentage, we kept trying to force shots that weren’t there, and that led to runouts and them getting open threes.  They beat us in the loose ball category, so I am going to give all the credit to Monroe.  They played a much better game than we did and their players played much better than ours tonight, and I wish them the best of luck moving forward in the tournament.

You always preach defensive intensity.  At what point did it hit you that the intensity wasn’t there?
“I think it was after the second media time out, I looked at the stat sheet and we were shooting like 20 percent.  The problem with this team all year has been that they have allowed their offense to dictate the way that they play defensively.  I continue to preach to them that at Louisville, our guys played defense whether we shoot 20 percent or 80 percent.  What happens is when they shoot well, they get jived up.  But it’s the opposite, when you are shooting well, you’ve got to get jived up to get turnovers, fast breaks.  When you have a good defensive team like Monroe that sets their defense in the half court, you can’t do it.  When I saw the shooting percentage, I started to get a little concerned, because I have seen it before. 

Arkansas State, Jr., G, Ty Cockfield

On three point shots not falling:
“Whether the shots are falling or not we’ve always got to look at defense. Whether the offensive side is working for us or it’s not, it’s all about defense. That defense can get us going on offense and that’s something we weren’t doing is working on defense.”

On biggest difference in playing ULM tonight vs playing ULM last Saturday:
“They wanted it more. They came out more aggressive and they came out and hit us right in the mouth instead of it being vice versa like the other day.”

On if it was tough trying to find a rhythm:
“Instead of coming out and playing our game we came out and played their game. We let them control the pace the whole game instead of us controlling the pace. That was the problem the whole game was them controlling the pace and us not handling our business on offense or defense.”

Arkansas State, Jr., F, Tristin Walley

On biggest difference in playing ULM tonight vs playing ULM last Saturday:
“The biggest thing, like coach said, is that we weren’t locked in defensively. That’s the biggest difference in the whole game. They shot 50% from the field.”

On ULM making adjusting to step out closer to the three point line:
“I really didn’t pay attention to where they were. I just tried to drive for my teammates. Shots just weren’t falling for us tonight.”

On if it was tough trying to find a rhythm:
“They controlled the pace the whole game. When we’d drive they’d have their hands in the passing lanes. They just played harder.”