Munnings leads ULM to 79-71 win over Texas State
MONROE, La. -- Travis Munnings scored 15 of his 26 points in the first half as ULM took over late in the first period to beat Texas State 79-71 on Saturday for its fourth straight Sun Belt Conference win.
With the victory Louisiana-Monroe (13-12, 7-7) jumps ahead of Texas State into sixth place in the conference standings.
Munnings drained 5-of-11 from distance. Michael Ertel added 19 points while dishing out five assists and Marvin Jean-Pierre had 14 points with four assists and two steals. Jordan Harriscontributed 12 points.
Texas State took an early lead before ULM closed out the first half on a 14-2 run to go ahead 37-31 at the break. The Warhawks carried the momentum into the second half, hitting 71 percent of their field goals to lead 66-51 with 7:35 left in the game.
ULM finished 30-of-54 shooting (56 percent) from floor, nailing 11 of 25 from long range.
Texas State, which rallied late, made 6 of 22 from beyond the arc.
Immanuel King and Nijal Pearson had 22 and 17 points respectively for the Bobcats (14-14, 7-8) who have lost five straight games.
Appalachian State beats Troy 65-54
BOONE, N.C. -- Ronshad Shabazz scored 15 points, Griffin Kinney had 12 points and eight rebounds and Appalachian State beat Troy 65-54 on Saturday.
App State outscored the Trojans 15-2 over the first seven minutes of the second half for a 49-29 lead. Jordon Varnado made two 3-pointers during an 8-2 Troy run to pull to 61-54 with 43 seconds left but O'Showen Williams and Justin Forrest made four free throws to seal it.
Forrest added 10 points and seven boards and Isaac Johnson added 11 rebounds for Appalachian State (12-16, 7-8 Sun Belt). Johnson has reached double-digit rebounds in two straight games and 11 on the season.
Varnado scored 30 points on 23 shot attempts and grabbed 13 rebounds for Troy (13-14, 7-7). Wesley Person added nine points on 1-of-9 shooting as the Trojans were held to 27.6 percent from the field, including 4 of 26 from distance.
Beck scores with 1.3 left; Coastal Carolina beats South Alabama
CONWAY, S.C. -- Demario Beck scored 16 points and made the game-winning layup with 1.3 seconds left to give Coastal Carolina a 72-70 victory over South Alabama on Saturday.
After South Alabama's Rodrick Sikes tied the game with a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining, Jaylen Shaw dribbled the floor then fired a no-look pass to Beck to win it for the Chanticleers (12-16, 6-9 Sun Belt Conference), who closed the game on a 13-4 run and snapped a three-game skid. Beck scored six points and Zac Cuthbertson added five during the stretch.
Artur Labinowicz made 10 of 13 free throws and finished with 17 points to lead Coastal Carolina.
Cuthbertson had 13 points, and Shaw chipped in nine points and 10 assists.
Sikes scored 21 points for South Alabama (14-13, 7-7), which had its three-game win streak broken.
The Chanticleers shot 25 of 36 (69 percent) from the line while South Alabama made 11 of 30 (37 percent) from distance but missed 10 free throws.
Reedus leads Little Rock to 82-78 win over Arkansas State
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Camron Reedus made two free throws in the final seconds to secure Little Rock's first road win of the season as the Trojans knocked off Arkansas State 82-78 on Saturday night to halt an eight-game losing skid.
Arkansas State was up 70-66 with 3:39 remaining until Little Rock's defense closed off the Red Wolves for over three minutes and took a 72-70 lead with 1:56 left following three layups by Ben Marcus, Oliver Black and Reedus. Marcus followed with a jumper and Kris Bankston added two free throws to go ahead 76-70 before Arkansas State's Ty Cockfield drilled a 3-pointer. He nailed another deep trey with :22 left to close to 78-76 before Black and Reedus finished with four straight free throws.
Reedus had a career-best 22 points, nailing 4 of 8 from distance. Marcus tied his career high with 14 points and Bankson added 10 with seven rebounds for Little Rock (6-21, 3-11 Sun Belt Conference).
Cockfield had 27 points for Arkansas State (9-18, 4-10).
Louisiana matches school record, beats UT Arlington 100-79
LAFAYETTE, La. -- Frank Bartley IV scored 25 points and led five teammates into double-figure scoring as Louisiana picked up its 13th win at home to tie the school record as the Ragin' Cajuns rolled past Texas Arlington, 100-79 in a Sun Belt Conference battle Saturday night.
With four games left to play in the regular season, Louisiana (23-4, 13-1) now holds a three-game lead over second-place Georgia State after the Panthers lost back-to-back games. UTA (16-12, 7-8) is tied with Texas State and Appalachian State for seventh place, a half-game behind ULM, South Alabama and Troy.
The Cajuns built a 14-point lead at the break and pushed it to 72-46 on two Johnathan Stovefree throws with 12:27 left.
Stove finished with 14 points and Cedrick Russell and JaKeenan Gant each added 12 points while Bryce Washington pulled down 10 rebounds and dished six assists.
Erick Neal scored 26 points and Kevin Hervey added 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mavericks.