By: Habtom Keleta-Assistant AD for Media Relations
Box Score MONROE, La. | On a cold wet night in a classic I-20 showdown, the Grambling State University men's basketball team defeated the University of Louisiana at Monroe 66-61 on Tuesday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Tigers trailed by just one point at the half before taking control in the second half by outscoring the Warhawks 35-29 behind
Ivy Smith, Jr.'s 15 points, none bigger than the contested jumper he buried near the elbow with less than one minute remaining to give Grambling a 64-61 lead. The loss snaps ULM's 14-game regular season non-conference home win streak.
"Ivy is a leader, and he needs to continue believing in himself in clutch moments," said Coach
Donte' Jackson. "I told him I believe in him, so the first play of the game, we drew up a play to get him a basket."
The senior point guard also added four assists, two boards and one steal while Grambling's leading scorer for the season,
DeVante Jackson, finished with 12 points, six rebounds and one assist. Fellow Tiger
Kelton Edwards added 11 points and three boards while
Travon Bunch chipped in with seven points and six rebounds. However, the real story of the game came down to points in the paint; Grambling finished with 38 while Louisiana-Monroe had 20.
"I told our guys about playing in games like this; it is pretty much a rivalry, and at points in time, you can throw everything out as far as what happened in the past and what's going on right now," said Coach Jackson. "I told my team that today is about pride. We have goals, and I told our seniors, (Ivy, AJ, DeVante and Travon) that we started this journey together, and we have not beat ULM yet. We must have a goal to beat them, so let's compete and leave it out here for the seniors, and my team did that tonight."
Despite leading for most of the first half, Grambling allowed the Warhawks back in the game and eventually trailed by one point at halftime.
"At halftime, I told my team I was proud of the first 20 minutes of the game, said Coach Jackson. "In previous games this season, we played well in spurts but we needed to find a way to play a solid 20 minutes and actually put together an entire solid half, and we did."
The second half was even better for Grambling as it outscored ULM 35-29 to seal the victory.
Grambling State (5-5) scored 20 points off of turnovers while the Warhawks only managed 10 points off turnovers. The Tigers produced 18 second-chance points while holding the Warhawks to only nine.
Sharpshooter Jalen Hodge led Louisiana-Monroe with 22 points as he hit 5-of-6 from downtown. JD Williams added 13 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Inside the Numbers
> Grambling State shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the floor and 83.3 percent (5-of-6) from the charity stripe
> Louisiana-Monroe was 20-of-47 (42.6 percent) from the field and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) from the foul line
> GSU registered 36 rebounds, including 23 on the defensive glass
> ULM pulled down 28 rebounds, with 22 coming on the defensive end
> The Tigers finished with 38 points in the paint, 17 bench points, 18 second-chance points and eight fast break points
> The Warhawks recorded 20 points in the paint, 22 bench points, nine second-chance points and 10 fast break points
Up Next
Grambling State concludes its non-conference home game schedule on Saturday against Rust College. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
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