PENSACOLA, FL (WTKR)- A long road is in front of Old Dominion if it wants to make a run to a Sun Belt championship, but the Monarchs took their first step down that road Tuesday night.
K.C. Shaw scored 25 points and the silver and blue connected on 13 of their 20 three-point attempts as ODU topped Louisiana-Monroe, 87-80, in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. The victory avenges a loss to the Warhawks suffered by Mike Jones and company last month and improves their record to 12-20.
Old Dominion could not have asked for a better start, knocking down its first eight shots and opening the game on a 14-0 run. The Monarchs would hold a 27-8 lead with 12:21 remaining in the first. After ULM chipped away and cut the advantage to eight, ODU found its footing again and went into halftime up 46-35.
The Monarchs would swell their lead to 16 points at 65-49 with 12:36 remaining in the game, but the Warhawks hung around, trimming the advantage to eight points with 6:48 to play and would cut it to six with under two minutes left. However, ODU knocked down some cushioning free throws to lock up the victory and advance to Wednesday's second round.
In addition to his 25 points, Shaw pulled down nine rebounds and dished out seven assists. Robert Davis Jr. and Jared Turner each scored 15 points off the bench, while L.J. Thomas added 12 points and Jordan Battle chipped in 10 points.
ODU shot 50 percent (30-60) from the floor and was 65 percent from beyond the arc.
The Monarchs will be back in action Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET against Georgia Southern. The Eagles swept Old Dominion in two regular season meetings.
