ODU Men's Basketball Begins 5-Game Home Stand With 85-79 Loss To ULM
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men’s basketball team began its final home stand of the season with an unexpected and frustrating loss as the Monarchs fell to ULM, 85-79, Wednesday night at Chartway Arena.
The victory ended a 13-game losing streak for the University of Louisiana at Monroe (4-20 overall, 1-11 Sun Belt), which had not won since Dec. 9, when the Warhawks defeated Arkansas Baptist, an NAIA school.
ODU (7-17, 4-8) never led, tied the score just once, was outrebounded and, said Head Coach Mike Jones, outhustled by the Warhawks.
“It’s very disappointing that we didn’t answer the call here tonight,” said Jones.
“We were a team that just didn’t come out ready to play, and we put ourselves into a big hole and gave them some confidence.”
Jordan Battle, the senior from Norfolk, led ODU with 23 points. KC Shaw added 16, Zacch Wiggins 13 and LJ Thomas 12.
ODU was without 7-foot center Caelum Swanton-Rodger (seven points, seven rebounds) much of the game because of foul trouble, but Jones said that had little to do with ULM’s dominance in the paint. The Warhawks outrebounded ODU, 42-32, and outscored the Monarchs in the paint, 40-32.
“I know people will look at how long we were without Cal and say that’s why we were outrebounded,” Jones said. “I mean, does that contribute to it? Yeah. But they just wanted the ball more than we did.
“It’s very disappointing for any coach to have to acknowledge that the other team played harder than yours.”
ULM was without forward Renars Sondors, its third-leading scorer and rebounder, after he fell to the court early in the first half after missing a dunk attempt.
Krystian Lewis, who made 13-of-14 free throws, led ULM with 28 points.
ULM took a quick double-digit lead when MJ Russell had a steal and breakaway dunk, his second breakway in the early minutes, to give ULM an 18-7 advantage with 12:32 left in the half.
ODU would cut it to four at one point, but Lewis made two free throws with 40 seconds left to build the lead back to 11.
ODU trailed by eight at the half thanks to Jared Turner’s three-point shot just before the final buzzer.
ODU quickly rallied in the second half to tie the score on two Thomas free throws with three and a half minutes gone to tie it at 36-all.
But ULM did not panic, as Lavell Brodnex had two baskets and Russell a third and the Warhawks built the lead back to six.
ULM still led by six, 73-67, when the Monarchs again rallied.
With 2:06 to go, Shaw made a layup and was fouled and while he missed the foul shot, ODU rebounded.
Shaw went to the line again with 1:47 left and made two free throws to cut the lead to two, 73-71.
But the Monarchs could not quite close the gap.
Lewis made a layup, and then picked off a pass and made another layup, and with 58 seconds left, ULM led, 77-71.
The Monarchs cut the lead to three on a Wiggins jump shot with 32.5 seconds left. But the Warhawks held off the ODU rally by making their last eight foul shots.
With four home games to be played over 10 days, Jones said the Monarchs need to quickly put this loss behind them.
The Monarchs host Ohio on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the second round of the MAC-Sun Belt challenge, then host Marshall next Wednesday, Feb. 11, and Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 14.
The Georgia State game is to be played on Valentine’s Day, and that evening, ODU will retire the jersey number of former ODU All-American Ronnie Valentine.
ODU concludes its home schedule on Monday, Feb. 16, against Louisiana in a 5 p.m. game. That game was originally scheduled for Jan. 24 but postponed because of an expected snowstorm.
“We’ve shown that when we are connected and are fighting and pulling in the same direction that we can beat anybody,” Jones said.
“But we’ve shown that if we’re not and we don’t we can lose to anybody.”
“Congrats to Coach (Phil) Cunningham and to Monroe,” he added. “Obviously, they’ve been through their own struggles and they’ve gotten that first conference win.
“I know how tough it is to do what he’s trying to do.”
Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
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