Second-Half Surge Lifts LR to Tournament Title

NEW ORLEANS – Little Rock (29-4) topped ULM (20-13) by a 70-50 final score in the finals of the Sun Belt Men's Basketball Championship presented by First Bank and Trust on Sunday. The Trojans trailed by five at the break but outscored ULM 42-17 after halftime.
 
The win secures Little Rock's fifth NCAA Tournament bid in program history, and first since 2011. It is the program's second Sun Belt Tournament title (2011).
 
Roger Woods was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after scoring 19 points and grabbing nine boards on Sunday. Marcus Johnson Jr. added 14 points while Kemy Osse (12) and Jalen Jackson (11) provided sparks on the bench.
 
ULM, who led by five at the break, missed its first six shots coming out of halftime as Little Rock scored the first seven points as part of a larger 13-2 run to retake the lead.
 
Woods' dunk with 15:01 to play put Little Rock up 37-35. The Trojans' lead extended to nine, 46-37, after a 3-point play by Jackson at the 12:19 mark. A triple by Johnson with 7:58 remaining pushed Little Rock's lead to double-digits for the first time, bringing the score to 53-42 with eight minutes to play.
 
All told, the Trojans outscored ULM 42-17 over the final 20 minutes. Little Rock shot 53.6 percent in the second half while limiting ULM to 7-of-25 shooting over the same span.
 
Little Rock led for more than 12 minutes in the opening half, but a late scoring flurry by ULM allowed the Warhawks to take a 33-28 lead into the break. ULM hit all four of its 3-pointers with under seven minutes to play in the half.
 
Consecutive 3s by Majok Deng and Jamaal Samuel put the Warhawks up 26-23 with 3:17 until halftime. Josh Hagins' triple tied the game at 28-all at the 1:58 mark. ULM closed the half with five straight points to take a lead into the locker room.
 
Tonight's win was the eighth of the season for Little Rock after facing a halftime deficit.
 
Little Rock becomes just the seventh No. 1 seed to win its conference tournament this postseason. Only Kansas (30-4) will enter the NCAA Tournament with a better record than the Trojans.
 
The Trojans will head to the NCAA Tournament having established new program records for overall wins (29), conference wins (17) and road wins (12) in a season.
 
Little Rock will learn its NCAA Tournament seeding, opponent and destination today at 4:30 p.m. (CST) with the two-hour selection show, which will air live on CBS and NCAA.com.