MONROE, La. - UALR (15-10, 9-5 SBC) finished the night shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from behind the three-point line to earn a 70-60 win over ULM (3-16, 2-11 SBC) Thursday night at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. After dropping each of its first seven true road contests of the season, the Trojans have now won three-straight games away from the Jack Stephens Center.

With UALR's win and Arkansas State's loss at Middle Tennessee, the Trojans regained sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt's West Division.

Freshman Josh Hagins led the Trojans in scoring and reached double figures for the eighth time in nine games with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Sophomore Gus Leeper came off the bench to score a career-best 12 points to go along with six rebounds. Junior Will Neighbour contributed 11 points and six boards to give the Trojans three players in double figures.

As a team, UALR finished the night +9 on the glass (34-to-25) and led 10-to-1 in second-chance points. The Trojans added a 17-to-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

Leading 36-23 at halftime, UALR came out of the break and immediately got a bucket from sophomore Michael Javes to earn its largest lead of the game. But consecutive buckets by ULM got the margin back to 10, and after a jumper by Neighbour made it 40-28 at the 15:36 mark, the Warhawks scored 10-unanswered points to make it a two-point game with 12:58 remaining.

Beginning with a free throw each from Leeper and freshman Kemy Osse, the Trojans answered by scoring 11 of the next 13 points to go up 51-40 with just under 11 minutes to play. Two additional free throws by Osse put UALR up four, and two more freebies by Gillon and a tip-in by Leeper increased the Trojans' lead to eight, 48-40, with 11:15 left. A three pointer by Osse capped the UALR run and pushed the Trojans' lead to 11 at the 10:53 mark.

A late 7-0 run pulled ULM within three, 61-58, with 3:06 left on the clock. But Neighbour drained a three to get UALR's lead back out to six, and a dunk by freshman James White off a feed from Hagins stretched the Trojans' lead to eight with less than a minute left.

Hagins finished the night with four assists against just one turnover.

Tied at 19 going into the under-eight media timeout of the first half, UALR came back out to the floor and converted on each of its first two possessions to build a 23-19 lead. First, Javes knocked down a shot in the lane to give UALR a two-point lead, then freshman Stetson Billings made a strong finish along the baseline off a feed from Hagins to put the Trojans up four.

Two minutes later, an offensive board and putback by Neighbour was followed with a steal and finish by Hagins, increasing UALR's lead to 27-19 with 4:43 left in the half. A tip-in by Javes at the 3:56 mark made it a 10-0 run for the Trojans.

A jumper by the Warhawks' Jayon James stopped the bleeding for ULM and made it 29-21 with 3:37 left in the half, but the Trojans came back with back-to-back buckets from Neighbour and Isler to push their lead to 12. James connected on another jumper for the Warhawks to make it 33-23 with less than two minutes left in the half. But a three-pointer by sophomore Ben Dillard with 49 seconds left on the clock gave UALR its biggest lead of the half, 36-23, heading into the locker room.

Leeper and junior Leroy Isler led the Trojans with seven points each at intermission. Dillard (6), Javes (5) and Hagins (5) gave UALR five players with at least five points at halftime. As a team, the Trojans finished the half shooting 50 percent from the floor (14-of-28) and 57.1 percent from three-point range (4-of-7). UALR outrebounded ULM 22-to-10 in the opening half.

UALR returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 14 when it travels to Jonesboro, Ark., to take on in-state rival Arkansas State. Start time is set for 7:05 p.m.