Box Score MONROE, La. – A near five-minute scoring drought to open the half and an overall poor shooting performance proved too much to overcome for Appalachian State University men's basketball as it dropped its second-straight Sun Belt Conference game, 69-58, on Saturday at UL Monroe's Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

The Mountaineers (9-14, 6-8 Sun Belt) were held without a point until the 15:09 mark of the first half as the Warhawks (18-8, 12-3) kept their grip on first place atop the conference standings.

ULM took full advantage of Appalachian's early offensive woes, building a 9-0 lead over the opening four minutes of the game before Chris Burgess drove the lane for a layup with 15:09 left in the first half.

The bucket sparked a 6-0 run by the Mountaineers, which cut the deficit to just three points (9-6) on Jacob Lawson's layup with 13:48 on the clock, but the Warhawks were able to turn momentum back in their favor with a 9-1 run over the next two minutes to take an 11-point lead (18-7).

ULM was able to increase the lead to 15 points on two occasions over the next three minutes before Appalachian cut the lead to 10 points (29-19) on a Tommy Spagnolo jumper with 6:34 on the clock.

The Warhawks responded with a 10-2 run in the next five minutes of action to grab their biggest lead of the day (38-21) and eventually took a 38-26 advantage into the half.

Appalachian State looked as if it might get back into the contest when it chipped away at the deficit to make it a 42-33 ballgame when Spagnolo drilled a three with 17:32 to play, but it was all the closer the Mountaineers could get as UL Monroe earned its sixth-straight win to become the first Sun Belt team to 18 wins.

Lawson had perhaps his best game of the season as he scored a career-high 16 points and went 5-of-7 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the charity stripe. Spagnolo logged his seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Burgess added nine points and dished out a team-high five assists.

ULM finished with three players in double figures as Tylor Ongwae, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week, scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. Majok Deng and Justin Roberson each scored 13 points while DeMondre Harvey added seven points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds off the bench.

The Warhawks shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) from the floor while holding Appalachian State to just 34.5 percent (19-of-55) and came away with a slim 34-33 edge in rebounds. ULM also dished out 17 assists to just 10 turnovers, but forced the Mountaineers to commit 11 turnovers and held the Apps to just eight assists.

Appalachian State returns to action on Thursday when it faces UT Arlington for the first time this season at 8:15 p.m. (ET) before heading to Georgia State next Saturday to finish off its road slate.

NOTES: Appalachian State fell to 0-1 all-time against UL Monroe ... the loss snapped a three-game Saturday winning streak for the Mountaineers ... Appalachian fell to 5-3 in Saturday games this season, including a 4-2 mark in Sun Belt play ... Appalachian missed its first six shots of the contest before Burgess connected ... Spagnolo's double-double was the 15th of his career ... the quartet of Jake Babic, Dustin Clarke, Frank Eaves and Griffin Kinney combined to go just 1-for-20 from the floor ... the four players had been averaging a combined 29.9 points per game entering the contest, good for 46.7 percent of the team's scoring output, but managed to score just 10 in the loss.