Troy falls to Louisiana-Monroe in bid for third-consecutive win
Published 10:49 pm Thursday, January 16, 2014
Troy saw its bid for three-straight Sun Belt wins fall victim to a hot shooting Louisiana-Monroe team Thursday night at Trojan Arena.
ULM went 9-for-14 from behind the arc to drop the Trojans 75-64.
Troy head coach Phil Cunningham said it is not fun to watch when the other team is the one draining three.
“It’s demoralizing when a team shoots it like that,” Cunningham said. “We saw the flip side of it last week. We knocked down big shots. Thy ha some guys that hadn’t been making threes, make some tonight.”
ULM outscored the Trojans 41-30 in the second half, and took the lead for good on a layup by Tylor Ongwae with 15:05 to play in the second half.
Troy and ULM traded the lead for much of the first half, before settling for a 34-34 tie heading to the locker room. The hot shooting from both team drew memories of the Sartain Hall days, with the Trojans and Warhawks combining to drain nine three pointers in the first 20 minutes of play.
While Troy’s three point shooting cooled off some in the second half, ULM stayed hot. The Warhawks came in to the game shooting just over 30 percent from the behind the arc.
Troy guard Hunter Williams, who finished with 16 points, said the Trojans just forced shots down the stretch.
“We got down and started forcing it a little,” said Williams. “We tried to get it back in one possession instead of just chipping away at a lead. Down the stretch, they hit shots and didn’t.
Cunningham pointed to a particular moment in the second half when the Warhawks took over.
“When the game was on the line in the second half, at about the eight to 10 minute mark, they kind of stepped up and took over,” Cunningham said. “The stepped forward and made the plays and we didn’t.”
Troy falls to 7-10, 2-3 in Sun Belt play. The Trojans host UL-Lafayette on Saturday at Trojan Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.