Warhawk Basketball Weekly

The Warhawks find themselves at home for just the second time in the month of December as they will look for revenge against the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech, then will make a brief step back into Sun Belt Conference action as they travel to Little Rock, Ark. to face the Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Last week ULM played a short week due to the Christmas Holiday, but did have a strong performance at Colorado. The Warhawks shot extremely well, shooting 45.5% on the night, but gave the game away in the form of committing 21 turnovers, including a costly late miscue by Jarvis Hill, as he dribbled the ball off his foot.

Sophomore Rudy Turner continued to have a strong presence in the paint, as he scored double-digits in his fifth consecutive game, as he ended the night against the Buffaloes with 12 points. Transfer Malcolm Thomas collected his first career double-double in the game, as he lit up the scoreboard for 13 points and pounded the glass for 14 rebounds.

The first half saw Colorado take an early 4-0 lead, but a strong Warhawk defensive performance, holding them to just four second chance points, allowed the offense to control the game on the other end of the floor as ULM built a 27-24 half-time lead. Following the intermission ULM was forced to abandon their dominance in the paint briefly, as Turner picked up his third foul just three minutes into the half. Despite this, the game remained tied the majority of the second half thanks largely to the great outside shooting of Lawrence Gilbert, who ended the night with a career high 19 points.

This week the Warhawks will open up at home against Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles defeated ULM in their worse loss under Head Coach Orlando Early, 108-70. The biggest difference in the game was the 27 points that Tennessee Tech scored off of the 17 Warhawk turnovers.

Tip-off against Tennessee Tech is slated for 7pm, Monday, December 29 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Sun Belt Conference action will close out the 2008 year for ULM, as they will travel to play Arkansas-Little Rock on December 31. The Trojans are sitting well above the .500 mark, with an 8-3 over all record and a 1-0 conference record, and picked up a win at home earlier in the season against NCAA participant Creighton. An equally impressive performance saw UALR nearly upset Final Four participant Memphis, 59-51.

The Trojans are led in scoring by guards Steven Moore and Matt Mouzy, who average 14 and 13 points respectively.

The New Year's Eve contest is scheduled for 4:30 tip off from UALR's Jack Stephens Center, and is available via Warhawk All-Access on ULM's ULM Atheltics.com site.