With blood streaming from above his left eye junior guard Tony Hooper scored a game-high 23 points and led the ULM mens basketball team to a 53-48 win against West Division co-leader Denver in Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Saturday night.
After taking an elbow to the face that opened a one-inch gash above his left eye with just over 16 minutes remaining in the second half, the Houston, Texas native returned six minutes later to score 13 points and lead the Warhawks to the five-point victory.
ULM (10-16, 4-10 Sun Belt) used an attacking offense to cut through the Denver (11-14, 7-7 Sun Belt) zone and finish connecting on 45 percent of its shots. The Warhawks attempted a season-low 11 three-point shots in the game.
The way they [Denver] play we decided to play zone and eliminate the back door cuts, ULM head coach Orlando Early said. I think the difference in the game tonight was our aggressiveness and getting the ball to the basket. When you play them, there aren't going to be a lot of points scored. I wanted to attack it and slow them down.
The Warhawks patiently attacked the Pioneer defense, trading slight advantages through the first 13 minutes of the opening half. With the score tied at 17-17 with 7:05 remaining, ULM used a 10-4 run to close the period and enter the intermission ahead by six.
Senior Lance Brasher scored eight first half points to lead a Warhawks charge that finished hitting on 55 percent of its shots from the field in the opening period. ULM committed only four turnovers in the opening period while forcing nine (including three shot clock
violations) by Denver.
After extending the lead to 10 points at 33-23 with 17:28 remaining, the Warhawks offense went cold. ULM missed seven shots and committed four turnovers during a scoreless eight-minute stretch to allow Denver to claim a five point lead at 38-33.
Senior Jordan Payne hit his only shot of the game, a trey with 7:52 remaining, to stop the 15-0 Denver run and cut the deficit to two points. Less than a minute later, senior Jonas Brown drilled a pair of free throws for the game?s seventh tie.
Hooper would score the Warhawks next 11 points and help ULM hold a two-possession lead with under one minute remaining. After Brown connected on a pair from the charity stripe, Hooper sealed the win with two makes from the line with 12 seconds remaining.
Rob Lewis scored 21 points and added a game-high nine rebounds for the Pioneers.
ULM will look to build on the win on Wednesday, Feb. 20 when it hosts North Texas in the second game of a league doubleheader at Fant-Ewing Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.