MONROE, La. -- Justin Roberson took a transition pass from DeMondre Harvey and finished a fast break with a two-handed dunk.
It turned out to be the last play the Warhawks needed to seal an 86-82 victory over UALR at Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Thursday night. The loss ended the Trojans' hopes of earning a Division I-best 10th road victory.
UALR Coach Chris Beard warned his team during practice this week about Roberson, whose dunk pushed the Warhawks' lead to 77-71 with 1:25 left. He was averaging 13.3 points before Thursday's game.
"It's what good players do," Beard said of Roberson, who scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half. "A lot of times we would play good defense for 23 seconds, and we would make a mistake. Give Roberson credit for making us make that mistake."
The Trojans already knew about forward Majok Deng, the 6-10 senior forward who was averaging 19.4 points per game entering Thursday. He scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half as Louisiana-Monroe built a 10-point halftime lead.
Louisiana-Monroe (12-12, 8-5 Sun Belt) handed UALR (21-3, 11-2) its first loss since Jan. 18, ending the Trojans' six-game winning streak. The loss coupled with Louisiana-Lafayette's 83-73 victory over Arkansas State trimmed the Trojans' lead atop the Sun Belt Conference standings to one game with seven to play in the regular season.
Josh Hagins had 19 points for UALR, which shot 46.2 percent, while Jalen Jackson had 12 and Mareik Isom contributed 11. But the Trojans' problems started on defense, which had been the constant during the program's best start.
Deng did most of his damage from the free-throw line, while Roberson did most of his work in the second half in a variety of ways. Deng made eight free throws as the Warhawks built as much as a 38-25 first-half lead before settling for a 42-32 edge at the break.
Of Roberson's 18 second-half points, a handful of baskets halted UALR runs.
Louisiana-Monroe Coach Keith Richard said his team "played good, but didn't play good" in winning for the sixth time in its last seven games. The Warhawks are now 8-0 at home.
Richard didn't like the sloppy end that allowed UALR to trim an 11-point deficit with 4:09 left to three with 1:56 remaining, but he had no complaints about how his team attacked UALR's defense.
Louisiana-Monroe's 86 points were the most UALR has allowed this season and 29 more than its Division I-leading average heading into Thursday night. The Warhawks shot 54.1 percent in the first half and 50.9 percent for the game, also the highest against UALR. Their 24-for-35 performance from the free-throw line also set a new mark -- in makes and attempts -- against the Trojans.
"Shooting that good of a percentage against that team with what they've done in their season so far is really an outstanding effort," Richard said.
Beard detected problems from the start, saying there were "four or five" mental lapses in the first half that led to open shots. The Warhawks' reliance on Deng inside didn't help, either. Many times, UALR guards Hagins or Kemy Osse, both 6-1, were caught guarding him in the post.
"It's team defense," Beard said. "We had some tactical mistakes, some mental mistakes that got him loose for open shots, which good players like him make."
Offensively, Beard said his team lacked patience, particularly in the first half when it shot 39.4 percent from the floor, 3 of 11 from three-point range and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line.
It put UALR in a halftime hole, but it's used to that by now. Six times this season the Trojans had fallen behind at halftime only to pull out a victory, with five of those on the road. But in each of UALR's losses -- at Texas Tech, at Arkansas State and Thursday -- the holes proved to be too big.
"You notice in our three losses that's kind of a constant," said Isom, who was 4 of 7 off the bench. "We just have to come out better and be locked in."
Isom was a spark in UALR's comeback.
His three-pointer from the top of the key, then a steal that led to a Hagins basket made it 54-49 with 12:10 left. Later, Jackson corralled a loose ball and made a contested layup, then Hagins stole the inbounds pass and dunked it to get the Trojans to within 74-71.
But Deng and Roberson wouldn't let the rallies endure.
"It's a long season; these road wins are tough to come by," Beard said. "I thought we played well enough to win in the second half, but we lost the game in the first half."
Sports on 02/12/2016