Southern Miss had not lost a home conference game since joining the Sun Belt.
That streak finally ended on Thursday night as an injury-riddled Golden Eagle team fell 68-59 to Louisiana-Monroe.
Donovan Ivory was the newest Southern Miss player to join the list of injuries after he hurt his foot earlier in the day during practice. Golden Eagles interim coach Juan Cardona compared it to the same foot injury that Neftali Alvarez had last season, which sidelined him for half of last season.
Currently, there is no timetable for Ivory, who has averaged 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
“He stepped on somebody else’s foot, and that was it,” Cardona said. “He’s trying to push through it, but I don’t know the time frame or if he’s back.
“It’s probably going to be a miracle for him to play again (this season).”
To recap the injury list: Victor Hart has battled a knee injury, Andre Curbelo is still dealing with concussion-like symptoms and Luke Ladner has been dealing with a back injury. In addition, Neftali Alvarez (foot) and Lieb Yat (knee) both underwent surgeries just before the start of the season. Not to mention, the Golden Eagles are still without head coach Jay Ladner, who experienced a heart attack last week.
“(Luke Ladner is) dealing with a back injury,” Cardona said. “We are probably going to redshirt him. I guarantee that if he was able to go, he would be out there.
“(Hart) is trying, but when he finished the (last) game. He told me his knee was giving up and that he didn’t have any power to lift from it. It’s day to day.”
Even with a thinned-out roster, the Golden Eagles still managed to challenge ULM (10-14, 5-8 Sun Belt) by the game’s end. Southern Miss trailed by as much as 21 points in the first half but cut the deficit to one point with less than a minute in the game.
“In the beginning of the game, I feel like we were just lacking energy,” said Cobie Montgomery, who scored 11 points in the loss. “That’s about it. That’s where we picked up in the second half, but it was too late.”
“We also had 18 turnovers, and that was a big part of that,” added center Tegra Izay. “They capitalized on that. We can’t get down like that.”
Helping make a difference in the night was center Tegra Izay, who was cleared from a broken wrist injury just one week before the season. Izay recorded 12 points and eight rebounds after scoring 13 points a game earlier.
“I wasn’t able to be with the team and practice,” said Izay, who joined the team in August. “I got cleared a week before the season, and it took a lot of time for me to get my conditioning and touch back up. I feel my confidence is at an all-time high right now.”
Southern Miss (14-12, 7-6) cut the score to 60-59 with one minute and 27 seconds left in the game after Austin Crowley scored on a layup from the fastbreak. However, Crowley, who scored 22 points and rested just 45 seconds in the entire game, was called for a personal foul that allowed ULM to reach the free-throw line.
“I’m not going to lie, with the refs (ULM) got away with some tough calls,” Montgomery said. “But at the end of the day, we have to pick it up from the jump. We can’t come out slacking energy at the beginning of the game and then decide to pick it up when we are down 18 to 20 points.
The Warhawks capitalized on the momentum from the free throws and went on an 8-0 run to end the game.
“That one is not on anybody; it’s on me,” Cardona said. “The effort at the beginning was unacceptable. I just have to do a better job of getting them ready for those first possessions. Those are the possessions that dictate on how the game is going to go. I cannot blame referees because our effort was the one thing that put us in that position.
“I’ll tell you one thing. It doesn’t matter where we stand and where we are at. We are going to win it all. I guarantee that.”
Southern Miss will host Texas State on Saturday, with tipoff set for 2:30 p.m.
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