MONROE, La. - ULM (10-14, 5-8 SBC) scored the game's final seven points inside the last 1:49 to shock Western Kentucky University (12-11, 5-6 SBC) 67-66 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Thursday night. In handing the Hilltoppers their fifth-straight road setback, the Warhawks defeated WKU for the first time in five all-time meetings.

Jeremy Evans, playing less than one hour from his hometown of Crossett, Ark., turned in a spectacular game with a season-high 19 points to go with six rebounds and five blocks. With 200 career blocked shots, Evans passed Clarence Martin (1983-87) for second all-time at WKU, now just 14 behind Chris Marcus (2000-03) for the top spot.

Trailing by 10 at the half, WKU scored the first eight points of the final stanza, and behind a 20-9 run in the opening nine minutes, claimed their first lead at 48-47 on a three-pointer from Caden Dickerson. After combining for just eight first-half points, AJ Slaughter and Steffphon Pettigrew each scored six during the run.

ULM proceeded to tie the game on three occasions, but were unable to retake the advantage as WKU built their largest spread of the game, 60-54, with 4:59 to play on an Evans' dunk. But Lawrence Gilbert scored four-straight and Colby Carr sank a pair of free throws at the 3:19 mark to knot the game up at 60-60. Carr finished with 10 points while Gilbert accounted for nine of the team's 16 bench points.

Eleven seconds after seeing their lead disappear, AJ Slaughter sank a three, and then Evans connected on his second triple of the season with 2:07 to play as WKU quickly pushed back out by their largest margin, 66-60.

Tommie Sykes converted a key three-point play on the ensuing possession with 1:47 remaining and then after WKU misfired on a three-point attempt, Kenneth Averette connnected on a game-tying triple with 25 ticks left to knot the score at 66-66.

WKU seemingly had a chance to win the game with the final shot, or at least do no worse than overtime, but Gilbert turned WKU over next midcourt and kicked it ahead to Dynile Forbes who was fouled with 1.9 left. Forbes made the first of his two free throw attempts to seal the upset 67-66.

Forbes finished with a game-high 22 points after scoring 20 in the first half on 6-of-6 from long range. Rudy Turner was an inside presence for the Warhawks with 11 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks.

In the first half, ULM raced to a 15-7 advantage and pushed that spread into double figures on a Forbes' trey with 6:02 left, making it 30-20. The Warhwaks would carry that 10-point bulge into the lockerroom at the break, ahead 38-28.

Slaughter finished with 18 points while Pettigrew added nine. Dickerson contributed 10 points while Sergio Kerusch chipped in seven points and five rebounds in his first game back after missing 14-straight contests with a foot injury.

WKU returns home to host Troy on Saturday, February 6 at 7:00 PM at Diddle Arena.

TEAM NOTES:
- WKU suffers its first-ever loss to ULM, now 4-1 in the all-time series
- WKU's road woes continue, losing for the fifth-straight time away from Diddle Arena, and falling to 1-8 in true road games
- WKU falls to 277-118 all-time against the 12 current members of the
Sun Belt Conference
- WKU has now made a three-pointer in 694-straight games (dating back to the inaugural season for the shot in 1986-87), ranking sixth all-time
- WKU played in its 19th of 27 consecutive TV games (WKU is 10-9 in
those 19 games)
- WKU trailed at the half for the 16th time this season, falling to 7-9 in those contests
- Tonight's one-point loss is the fourth this season for WKU
- WKU lost for just the second time in the last 24 games when leading
with 5:00 to play

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:
- After missing 14-straight games, junior Sergio Kerusch returned from his foot injury with seven points and five rebounds in 19 minutes of action
- For just the fourth time in 24 games, someone other than AJ Slaughter
or Steffphon Pettigrew led WKU in scoring as Jeremy Evans had 19
- Evans, with 19 points tonight, now has 961 for his career; Pettigrew, with nine points tonight, now has 911 for his career as both are closing in on 1,000 career points
- Slaughter scored 18 points to give him 1,376 for his career, moving past Charlie Osborne (1959-61) for 13th on the WKU all-time scoring list; next up is Art Spoelstra (1952-54) at 1,510
- Slaughter entered the game averaging 16.9 ppg, leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring; the only Hilltopper ever to lead the SBC in scoring was Jack Jennings in 1991-92 averaging 19.1 ppg
- Pettigrew failed to reach double figures for the fourth time in 24 games this season; he had been averaging 17.3 ppg over his last 14 games
- Evans' 19 points gives him double figures in scoring for the fifth-straight game, a season-long streak; it is also a season-high in scoring and just three off his career mark
- With his five blocked shots tonight, Evans passed Clarence Martin (1983-87) for second place on the WKU all-time blocks list with 200; he is now just 14 behind Chris Marcus (2000-03) for the all-time lead
- Caden Dickerson extended his double-digit scoring streak to three games
- Pettigrew tied a career-high dishing out four assists and by swiping three steals