Box Score MONROE, La. -- The University of New Orleans basketball team struggled on the glass and at the charity stripe, and Louisiana-Monroe took full advantage as the host-Warhawks took a 72-66 win on Friday in Sun Belt Conference action at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Junior guard Malcolm Thomas had a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds, and forward Rudy Turner added 14 points and seven boards as ULM (3-7, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference) snapped a five-game losing skid.
UNO (4-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) put four scorers in double figures, with junior guard
Darrian McKinstry leading the squad with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
Kyndall Dykes had 14 points and four steals, while
T.J. Worley and
Jaroslav Tyrna added 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Privateer defense managed to force 18 ULM turnovers -- compared to eight for UNO -- and converted the miscues to 19 points.
But the Warhawks used a commanding 38-22 rebounding advantage and shot 86 percent from the free-throw line to spoil the league opener for a UNO squad that entered the game winners of four of its last five.
"We didn't play two halves," said UNO head coach
Joe Pasternack. "In the second half we defended, but in the first half we didn't. We're not good enough to win if we don't guard for 40 minutes."
UNO fell behind by double figures in the first half after the Warhawks erased a 25-24 deficit with 5:28 to play with a 13-0 run to make it 37-25 with three minutes remaining.
ULM, which shot 56 percent in the first 20 minutes, took a 40-29 halftime lead -- keyed by a 20-11 rebounding edge.
McKinstry, limited to just six minutes in the first half due to two quick fouls, helped UNO fight back and his jumper with 10:17 to play cut the Warhawk lead to 52-51.
The Privateers, though, could never grab the lead, and ULM used a 9-0 spurt beginning at the 6:27 mark to clinch it.
"The real upsetting thing is that the free-throw line just killed us," said Pasternack, whose team was 12-of-21 from the line (57 percent). "We didn't make our free throws on the front end of one-and-ones in the first half, and that really cost us in the second half."
UNO will return home at 7 p.m. on Monday, as the squad will open up the Sun Belt home campaign against North Texas at Lakefront Arena.
For ticket information, log on to UNOPrivateers.com or call 504-280-GAME.
