Tyreke Locure scored a season-high 25 points while picking up his first career double-double with 10 rebounds and Nika Metskhvarishvili added 20 points as ULM held off Tyson Acuff and Eastern Michigan, 82-76, Saturday afternoon in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
“We’ve won five of the last seven games,” ULM head coach Keith Richard said. “That’s kind of been the motto with our team. We said it before the game: we wanted to win and play well so that afterwards we could say its five out of the last seven. We’re playing well. We’re going on the road now, and it’s a good time, in mid to late February, to be playing well and have some confidence.”
Locure stuffed the stat sheet for the second-straight game, adding six assists and one block while playing all 40 minutes for ULM (9-14 overall).
“He played really well in all facets,” Richard said. “He had good control with the ball in his hands, he pushed it when we wanted to push it and kind of set it up when we wanted to set it up. He had a hard time guarding (EMU point guard Orlando Lovejoy), and he did an excellent job on him.”
Metskhvarishvili reached 20 points for the third-straight game and fourth time in the last five games. It marked the first time two Warhawks scored 20-or-more points in the same game since Michael Ertel and JD Williams did so on Dec. 19, 2019, vs. Little Rock.
Metskhvarishvili is the first Warhawk to score 20-or-more points in four out of five games since Andre Jones topped 20 points in six-straight games in February of 2022.
“You get confidence from doing something well over and over again,” Richard said. “He has strung some games together and you can see his confidence growing more and more. Earlier in the year and even in the beginning of conference play, it was a good game and then two not so good games. His confidence is really sky high right now.”
Acuff nearly led EMU (9-15) to a road win, scoring a game-high 29 points while matching his career high with seven 3-pointers. He missed his first trey attempt of the afternoon on the Eagles’ third possession, and then hit seven-straight attempts before missing his final three of the afternoon down the stretch of the game.
“He was tremendous today,” Richard said. “He’s a pro. He’s going to make money playing basketball somewhere. He’s a good player. He kept them in that game. Sometimes you run into that, but we’re glad to get out of this with a win.”
In addition to Locure and Metskhvarishvili, Savion Gallion joined them in double figures with 11 points and dished out four assists. Arne Osojnik scored a career-high 22 points for EMU, while Jalin Billingsley added 10 points and nine rebounds.
ULM opened the game hot, hitting three of its first four attempts from 3-point range, with two by Gallion and one from Metskhvarishvili, racing out to a 9-0 lead with 17:03 left in the first half.
The Warhawks led by 10, 14-4, when EMU unleashed a 8-0 run to get within two, 14-12, on Osojnik’s first 3-pointer of the day. ULM punched right back with a 7-0 run, going back up nine, 21-12, on Locure’s runner off the glass with 12:20 to go. EMU answered with another 8-0 run, drawing within one, 21-20, on a layup by Cyril Martynov with 10:54 left.
EMU took its only lead of the day, 24-23, on two free throws by Legend Geeter at the 6:30 mark. Makai Willis answered with a layup on the next possession to regain the lead for ULM. After Jalen Bolden’s putback pushed the lead to three, 27-24, Acuff buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 27 with 4:52 left in the half.
ULM took control for good with an 8-0 run, using a 3-point play by Locure and a 3-pointer by Metskhvarishvili, to push the lead to 35-27. EMU pulled within four, 37-33, on another trey by Acuff, but the Warhawks scored the last six points of the half, with a triple from Locure and a layup and free throw by Jerry Ngopot, to rebuild a 10-point lead at halftime, 43-33.
The Warhawks took their biggest lead of the game to open the second half, as Bolden buried a 3-pointer for the 46-33 lead.
EMU’s 3-point shooting kept it around. Osojnik’s trey cut the gap to six, 63-57, with 10:19 left. The Eagles eventually whittled the ULM lead to four, 69-65, on a Osojnik’s layup with 6:04 to play. Moments later, the Warhawks took the momentum back, as Locure’s step-back 3-pointer from the corner hit short, but bounced up off the rim to the top of the glass and banked in for the seven-point lead, 72-65, with 5:07 left.
Tyreese Watson finished a 3-point play to extend the lead to nine, 76-67, with 4:06 left. EMU cut the gap to five, 78-73, on Acuff’s jumper in the lane with 1:41 to play, but ULM hit enough free throws down the stretch to secure the 82-76 win.
ULM shot 57% (32-of-56) from the field, which is a season-high against NCAA Division I opponents. The Warhawks also shot 50% (8-of-16) from 3-point range and 67% (10-of-15) at the free throw line. EMU shot 42% (29-of-69) from the field, 45% (13-of-29) from 3-point range and 5-of-7 at the free throw line.
ULM won both of its games in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge after a 74-64 win at Central Michigan on Nov. 11. Saturday’s win moved ULM to 3-0 all-time against EMU, with a 71-67 win over the Eagles on March 18, 2015, in the first-round of the College Basketball Invitational at Fant-Ewing Coliseum, and a 70-67 win over EMU in Ypsilanti on Dec. 20, 1972.
ULM returns to Sun Belt Conference play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Southern Miss.
