MONROE, La. – Trailing by as many as 14 in the second half, and by 10 with just under 10 minutes remaining, Little Rock once again staged a rally to pull even with ULM with just over six minutes to go. But the Trojans couldn't make the shots they needed down the stretch as the Warhawks pulled away to hand Little Rock an 80-72 loss at Fant Ewing Coliseum.
The loss came despite strong performances from both
Nikola Maric and
Isaiah Palermo, who paced the Trojans offensively and combined to score 43 of Little Rock's 72 points. Maric matched his season-high with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Palermo finished with 19 points, going 7-of-12 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line, adding five rebounds.
The duo were the only Trojans to finish in double figures on the evening as
Marko Lukic scored seven points, ending his streak of five-straight double figure performances.
Myron Gardner and
CJ White each added six points as White was the team leader in both rebounds and assists, notching eight of each and setting a new career-high for helpers in a game. He also had a team-high three steals.
Kevin Osawe and
Jovan Stulic each finished with five points to round out the scoring for Little Rock, which finished the game shooting 42.9% from the floor (27-of-63) and 28.6% from beyond the three-point arc (8-of-28).
The Trojans were outrebounded 35-30, but held a 10-8 edge in offensive boards, which led to a 14-4 edge in second chance points. But the Warhawks made the Trojans pay in the paint, outscoring Little Rock 38-24, and were efficient on the fast break with a 13-4 advantage.
A sluggish start for the Trojans helped ULM race out to an early 9-0 lead, benefitting from three Little Rock turnovers before a three from Gardner at the 15:46 mark finally got the Trojans on the board. That three sparked a Trojan run as Little Rock rattled off nine-straight of its own, taking its first lead at 12-11 at the 12:22 mark.
Little Rock's defense then helped force eight Warhawk turnovers over a 10 minute span as the Trojans extended its run to 22-7, leading by as many as seven at 25-18 at the 6:43 mark off back-to-back layups from Maric. A 14-2 Warhawk run helped ULM reclaim the lead at 32-27, answered with back-to-back threes from Gardner and Maric to put Little Rock back on top at 33-32.
The two teams exchanged baskets over the final minute with a Stulic layup giving the Trojans the 35-34 lead, but ULM held for the last shot and hit a three from the corner as time expired to take the 37-35 lead into the locker room. For the opening half, Little Rock shot 42.4% from the floor, compared to 55.2% for the Warhawks, who knocked down eight of their last nine shots, as the Trojans were led by 13 points from Maric and seven from Palermo in the opening 20 minutes.
Similar to the first half, ULM came out the aggressor and scored the first 10 points of the second, taking its largest lead of the game at 47-35 at the 17:04 mark. Little Rock was able to get the lead under 10 at 51-42, thanks to an and-one from Palermo, but five-straight for the Warhawks off a pair of Trojan turnovers gave ULM its largest lead of the night at 56-42 with 12:41 remaining.
Just like a week ago against Georgia Southern, Little Rock found itself down 61-51 with just over nine minutes to go, which sparked a 13-3 Trojan run, including a three from Lukic and another from White to tie the game at 64-64 with 6:29 remaining.
A layup from Palermo at the 3:13 mark got the Trojans to within three at 70-67, but Little Rock was unable to get over the hump as ULM made key baskets, coupled with some defensive stops down the stretch, as the Warhawks outscored the Trojans 10-5 over the final three minutes to preserve the 80-72 victory.
For the game, ULM shot 57.1% from the floor, including 59.3% in the second half and knocking down three of its five three pointers, all of which came at critical times. Russell Harrison became the first opposing player to record a double-double this season, leading all players with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while former Trojan Andre Jones finished with 16 points and nine assists against his former team.
The loss drops the Trojans to 6-8 on the year and 1-1 in Sun Belt play as Little Rock will now continue its three-game road swing by heading south to Lafayette to take on the Ragin' Cajuns. Tip-off against Louisiana is set for 7:05 p.m. Saturday evening at the Cajundome.
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