UL Monroe beats Georgia Southern 71-68 in OT
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) Tylor Ongwae scored 19 points, Jamaal Samuel added 17, and UL Monroe beat Georgia Southern 71-68 in overtime Saturday, extending their winning streak to four games.
Mack Foster scored 12 and the Warhawks (16-8, 10-3 Sun Belt) made 10 of 19 from long distance.
Trailing 34-29 at halftime, Georgia Southern grabbed the lead and held for much of the second half until Ongwae's jumper gave the Warhawks a 62-58 lead with 1:32 left, but he fouled Curtis Diamond, who made one of two free throws to tie it at 62 at the end of regulation.
Nick Coppola hit a 3 and Ongwae a layup and the Warhawks led 69-66 after Justin Roberson hit two free throws with 1:29 left in overtime. Eric Ferguson's layup pulled the Eagles within 69-68, but Georgia Southern got no closer.
Jelani Hewitt and Trent Wiedeman scored 14 apiece for the Eagles (16-5, 9-3) and Ferguson added 13.
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Bilbao with 18; UT Arlington beats UL Lafayette 84-69
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Jorge Bilbao made all seven field goal attempts for a career-high 18 points to lead UT Arlington to an 84-69 Sun Belt Conference win on Saturday as coach Scott Cross picked up his 150th career win.
Cross, who is now 150-122 in nine seasons, is the only coach in school history with a winning record.
The Mavericks trailed until Greg Gainey nailed a 3-pointer and Lonnie McClanahan drove for a layup for a 48-47 lead with 17:18 remaining. UTA stretched that to 77-60 with 5:36 left and the Mavericks (13-9, 7-5) held on for the win.
UTA lost its previous two games while holding double-digit leads in the second half.
The Mavericks scored 44 points in the paint while limiting the Ragin' Cajuns to 32. Johnny Hill had 16 points and Gainey chipped in 10.
Bryce Washington scored 13 points and Shawn Long added 12 to lead UL Lafayette (13-11, 7-6).
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Hunter leads Georgia State to 65-54 win over South Alabama
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) R.J. Hunter scored 19 points and Georgia State made six free throws in the final 48 seconds to turn back South Alabama 65-54 on Saturday.
Kevin Ware added 15 points and Markus Crider had 14 for the Bulldogs (16-8, 9-4 Sun Belt), who finished 14 of 16 from the foul line.
Taishaun Johnson had 17 points for the Jaguars (7-17, 5-8).
Georgia State used an 11-0 run to build a 41-34 lead with 13:14 to play but the Jaguars followed with a 7-0 to tie it. A 9-2 run rebuilt the lead to 56-48 with 4:24 to go and South Alabama got no closer than five, on a Ken Williams 3 with 58 seconds left.
Ryan Green, Ware and Hunter each made a pair of free throws to secure the win.
Hunter made all seven of his free throws, grabbed five rebounds, and added five assists, three steals and three blocks.
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Appalachian State pulls away from Troy 65-62
BOONE, N.C. (AP) Chris Burgess had 15 points Saturday with a late 3-pointer that put Appalachian State ahead for good in a 65-62 win over Troy.
Appalachian State (9-12, 6-6 Sun Belt) went up 62-59 with 2:52 left on Burgess' 3. Griffin Kinney followed with a jumper and Frank Eaves made 1 of 2 free throws with 13 seconds left.
Eaves had 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals for the Mountaineers. Tommy Spagnolo added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Chris Bilbo's 3-pointer for Troy (9-13, 4-9) capped the scoring with less than a second left.
The Trojans never led after an early 12-11 advantage but challenged throughout the second half, culminating at 59-all on Musa Abdul-Aleem's 3-pointer with 3:48 left. Abdul-Aleem missed a pair of 3s in the final 2:30 that allowed the Mountaineers to pull away.
Kevin Thomas led the Trojans with 13 points, Bilbo scored 12 and Abdul-Aleem 11.
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Isom, Woods lead UALR over Texas State 69-61
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Mareik Isom and Roger Woods came off the bench to combine for 27 points and help UALR beat Texas State 69-61 on Saturday night.
Isom scored 14 points, Woods 13 and James Reid 11 for the Trojans (9-14, 4-9 Sun Belt).
Emani Gant scored 14 points, Cameron Naylor 12, D.J. Brown 11 and JaMarcus Weatherspoon 10 for the Bobcats (11-11, 5-8).
UALR led 32-23 at halftime after shooting 52.4 percent while the Bobcats shot just 32 percent. But Texas State opened the second half with a 15-6 run to tie at 38-all. The Trojans responded with six unanswered points and didn't trail again.
The UALR bench was assessed two technicals and Ethan Montalvo converted 3 of 4 free throws to get the Bobcats within 48-45. An 8-0 run boosted the lead back to 61-50 with 4:24 remaining and Texas State wouldn't get closer than seven after that.