Warhawks Shine in 74-65 Opening Night Victory over UAB
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Senior Tylor Ongwae and junior Justin Roberson each tallied 18 points to propel the ULM men’s basketball program to a big 74-65 win over UAB in the 2014-15 season opener on Saturday at Bartow Arena in the first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
ULM (1-0) trailed 3-0 after UAB (0-1) hit a three-pointer to open the game, but the Warhawks responded with a pair of baskets and never surrendered the lead. Ongwae finished one rebound away from a double-double with nine boards.
Roberson hit six field goals and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line to go with his five assists. Sophomore Nick Coppola registered 14 points and six assists, and came up huge with three three-pointers in the second half.
In his first appearance in a ULM uniform, junior Majok Deng netted 13 points including a pair of long-range shots. He also rejected four blocks.
For UAB, Tosin Mehinti led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Hakeem Baxter recorded 11 points and Tyler Madison had 10.
The Warhawks led early, 9-7, when they went on an 8-0 run which included a three-pointer from junior Jamaal Samuel to go up 17-9 at the 12:55 mark. ULM took its biggest lead of the half, 29-20, after a jumper from Roberson with 3:55 left.
Leading 31-25, the Warhawks were able to hold for the final possession and Coppola drove and converted a lay-up in the closing seconds. ULM took the 33-25 into the intermission.
The Warhawks increased their lead to 44-33 after Ongwae converted an and-one with 15:14 left early in the second half.
The Blazers answered with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 44-39 as ULM called timeout with 12:28 remaining. UAB further chopped the lead to 46-43, but Roberson responded with a jumper and two free throws to push the lead back up to 50-43 with 8:40 left.
ULM pulled away with three long-range shots from Coppola to go up 63-50. Ongwae followed it with a jumper for ULM’s biggest lead of the game, 65-60, with 3:37 remaining.
Up next, the Warhawks will play their home opener against Champion Baptist on Monday at 7:00 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. It marks the first of 15 home contest for ULM, the most since 1985-86.
NOTES
- ULM picked up its first victory on opening night since Nov. 14, 2008 when it defeated Morehead State, 56-54.
- The Warhawks grabbed their first opening day road victory since Nov. 23, 1999 when it won at Samford, 67-60
- The nine-point win was the program’s largest opening-night road victory since 1979-1980 when ULM won at Nicholls State, 79-69
- The victory was the program’s first-ever over UAB in three meetings
- ULM out-rebounded UAB 40-35 and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in the contest
- Ongwae posted his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring game dating back to last season. It was his 25th double-digit game of his career
- Coppola reached double-figures for the 10th time in his career
- Ongwae scored the first basket of the season for the Warhawks with a runner in the lane with 19:14 left in the first half
- The contest was the opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament but is not part of the main bracket. The Warhawks will take on Coastal Carolina in the first of their bracketed tournament games on Wednesday, Nov. 26 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening winning on the road
“This was a very good win on the road; any road win is a good win. Though to open up the season with a road victory is certainly tremendous for our program.”
On stopping UAB’s run in the second half
“That’s one of the things I was most proud of about this game. We were able to bend, but not break. Over the years, our team has played well on the road, only to falter in the second half when the home team makes a run. Our team didn’t fold tonight, even after UAB cut the lead down to three. A returner, Nick Coppola, came through with some big shots. Justin Roberson also hit a really big mid-range shot at a key moment. We found a way to weather the storm and come up with some big plays.”
On Justin Roberson
“He really played aggressive off the dribble. It’s something that he does really well and something that we need in order to win on the road. He made some tough plays. A lot of people think that all the tough-man plays are made in the post but they’re not. Justin made tough-man plays tonight.”
On Majok Deng
“Majok did very well for his first Division I game. It wasn’t just from long-range either. He made some plays around the bucket and grabbed big rebounds down the stretch. I’m very proud of his effort.”
On ULM’s turnovers
“I told the team at halftime that we only had two turnovers and were up eight points, that wasn’t a coincidence. We were concerned at halftime about whether we could do it again in the second half, and obviously we didn’t do as good of a job. A lot of those turnovers came at the end of the game, and I was upset about that because I wanted to finish strong, so we still have some work to do. Nevertheless, we’ve really come a long way over the last two weeks and we broke the press really well. We’ve been working on that and it really showed with some easy buckets.”
On the locker room after the game
“Our guys are happy, and I want them to be happy but not too happy. We can be a good team but we still have to get better. We can’t get complacent. We had a business-like attitude and we have to get back at it again starting tomorrow. We have a game at home on Monday and we have to continue to get better.”
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Mountaineers Fall to Ohio
ATHENS, Ohio – A long second-half scoring drought proved too much to overcome as Appalachian State University men’s basketball opened the 2014-15 campaign with a 73-47 loss at Ohio on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
The Mountaineers (0-1) were held scoreless for a near seven-minute stretch (19:35-12:36) in the second period, and the Bobcats (1-0) ripped off a 17-0 run to blow a close game wide open en route to their 11th-straight win in a season opener.
Appalachian trailed by just eight points (35-27) at the break thanks in large part to Chris Burgess’ (Lakeland, Fla./George Jenkins) 3-of-4 from long range in the first half, but the Apps went 1-of-11 to open the second half and the Bobcats drilled four three-pointers to take a commanding 54-29 lead midway through the final period.
Ryan Taylor scored 10 points for the Bobcats during the run as he nailed a pair of shots from long range and connected on both a jumper and a layup. The freshman guard finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in his collegiate debut.
Mike Kobani (Bodo City, Nigeria/High Point Christian Academy) brought Appalachian within seven (36-29) when he scored just 25 seconds into the final frame, but the Mountaineers would not get on the board again until Landon Goesling (Irving, Texas/Coppell) drilled a jumper almost seven minutes later.
It would be all the momentum Ohio needed as it stretched its lead to as many as xx points in the second half. The Bobcats finished 12--of-22 (54.5 percent) from the floor over the final 20 minutes of play, including 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.
The Apps were able to keep it close for much of the first half despite Ohio running out to an early nine-point lead (20-11) with 11:42 left in the opening period. Appalachian cut the deficit to as little as four points (31-27) when Frank Eaves (Greensboro, N.C./Page) hit a pair of free throws with 1:36 on the clock, but Ohio hit two shots in the final 1:16 to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room.
Burgess finished with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting with a team-high four assists while Tommy Spagnolo (West Jefferson, N.C./Ashe County [Radford]) also scored 11 and ripped down a team-best nine rebounds. Kobani finished with nine points on 4-of-6 from the floor.
In addition to his 21 points, Taylor also dished out four assists. Maurice Ndour notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Antonio Campbell poured in 13 off the bench.
The Bobcats finished with a 41-35 edge in rebounds and forced 14 App State turnovers. Both teams finished with 12 assists, but Ohio tallied six blocks to just two for the Mountaineers.
Appalachian continues its season-opening three-game road swing when it heads to former Southern Conference rival Furman for a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday.
NOTES: The Mountaineers fell to 50-40 (.555) all-time in season openers .. the Apps also dropped to 0-2 all-time against Ohio and 2-5 against teams from the Mid-American Conference ... Kobani and Dustin Clarke (Newland, N.C./Avery County [Hartford]) made their first career starts ... four different Mountaineer freshmen played ... in addition to Goesling, Jake Babic (Oakville, Ontario/The Kiski School), Griffin Kinney (Delaware, Ohio/Fork Union Military Academy) and Milos Kostic (Belgrade, Serbia/IMG Academy) all saw time on the floor ... Tab Hamilton (Winston-Salem, N.C./Fishburne Military Academy) did not play due to a violation of team rules ... no timetable has been set for his return ... Michael Obacha (Edo State, Nigeria/High Point Christian Academy) and Dylan Hodson (Roanoke, Va./Hargrave Military Academy) did not play due to injuries ... Obacha (upper body) is day-to-day while Hodson (lower body) is out indefinitely.