MONROE, La. (1/12/08) ? Led by four players scoring in double figures, including Adrian Banks with a game-high 29 points, the Arkansas State men's basketball team picked up an 89-82 road victory over Louisiana-Monroe at Fant-Ewing Coliseum Saturday night in a Sun Belt Conference West Division game.

ASU improved to 8-8 on the season and 3-3 in Sun Belt play, while Louisiana-Monroe dropped its fifth consecutive game to fall to 6-11 overall and 0-5 in league play.  Indians' Head Coach Dickey Nutt moved into a tie for the second most wins in ASU history with his 188^th victory.

Trailing 58-54, which matched its largest deficit of the game, Arkansas State went on a 16-0 run capped by a Ryan Wedel 3-pointer to grab a 70-58 lead with 8:04 left in the game.  ULM was able to pull within 80-76 with 3:34 remaining, but the Indians made 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to hold off the Warhawks.

“(ULM) is an explosive team and they shot the ball well, but I thought we were focused, prepared and really played with a lot of passion tonight,” said Nutt.  “I thought we rebounded well, made a lot of good hustle plays, played unselfish and overall had a great team performance.”

The Indians started the second half with a 5-0 run and led 50-47 at the 16:49 mark, but ULM went on a 7-0 run to take its first lead since late in the first half and held it until ASU began its 16-0 run with 12:18 left in the game.

Arkansas State got off to a hot start with a 16-2 run over the game's first four minutes and led 24-10 at the 12:07 mark to match its largest lead of the first half.  However, ULM went on a 13-4 run at that point to pull within five points, 28-23, of ASU's lead and eventually overtook the Indians with 2:07 left before halftime.  Trailing 36-30, the Warhawks went on 9-0 run to take a 39-36 advantage, but ASU recovered to score five of the last seven points and force a 41-41 halftime tie.

Joining Banks as ASU players scoring in double figures were Shawn Morgan with a career-high 19 points, Wedel with 11 and Ifeanyi Koggu with 10.  ASU, which pulled down 38 rebounds to ULM's 32, was led on the boards by Banks with eight rebounds.

The Indians shot 50 percent from the field and made 10-of-19 three-point field goals for a .526 percentage.  The Warhawks also shot the ball well, hitting 47 percent of their shots from the field and 38 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.  Both teams took care of the ball as ASU turned it over just eight times and ULM 10.

The Warhawks also had four players scoring in double figures, led by Jonas Brown with 20.  Tony Hooper scored 18 points, while Lance Brasher and Jordan Payne each added 10.