The road has not been a kind place for the ULM Warhawks basketball team. Already 1-4 on the road going into tonight match up vs Iowa it looked early on that ULM would let another get away from them.
Poor shooting from the floor and even worse from the foul line kept ULM from mounting any kind of comeback. Still, despite the poor shooting ULM kept themselves in the game by forcing many turnovers. When it was all said and done, ULM forced 29 Iowa turnovers while only turning it over 14 times.
ULM was credited with 13 steals in the game. Tony Hooper and Jordan Payne each had three while Jonas Brown led the way with five.
ULM was out rebounded by the home team by a large margin of 41-24 with 15 of those being offensive rebounds by the Hawkeyes. Afame Neweke led the Warhawks with 9 rebounds.
Trailing 31-22 ULM could not throw it in the ocean. When they were getting to the free throw line those were not falling either. In the second half ULM started to chip away at the lead and finally get it under ten. At the 3:16 mark Lance Brasher drilled a three point basket to make it 53-51 Iowa.
With 1:13 left Jonas Brown came away with a steal and got it up court to Hooper to tie the game up at 53. After a Kurt Looby put back dunk for a two point lead, Hooper was fouled with :23 seconds left and sank both free throws to tie the game at 55.
With 2.6 seconds left Iowa had a chance to win the game when Lobby was fouled and sent to the line for two shots. He clanked both and the game went to overtime.
In overtime it was all Warhawks as they heated up from three point range. After Jonas Brown hit his second three in OT ULM led 67-62. A Justin Johnson free throw would get Iowa to within 69-67 but Hooper would steal the ball late and cruise in for an uncontested lay-up for the final score of 72-67.
In the 40+ years of the Iowa Hawkeye Challenge the home team has only lost one time and that was to Arkansas State back in 1985. ULM advances to play Rice tomorrow and tip off is 5:45. Tony Hooper led ULM with 26 points.