UALR had its way with the University Central Arkansas near the basket Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
Junior forward James White tied his career-high with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting and had 7 rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 85-71 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1,060 in the schools' first meeting since 2002.
White, who is UALR's leading scorer averaging 15.0 points per game, also scored 23 points at Georgia State last season.
Junior forward Roger Woods had 18 points and six rebounds for UALR, which outscored UCA 44-22 in the lane. The Trojans shot 54.5 percent (30 of 55) and outrebounded UCA 32-27.
"Coach just tells me and Roger to be aggressive," White said. "But at the end of the day, it's a compliment to our teammates to find us in open spots."
White and Woods were two of five UALR players who scored at least 10 points. Junior guard Josh Hagins scored 19 points, sophomore forward Maurius Hill had 11 points and junior guard J.T. Thomas added 10.
UALR (4-1) is off to its best start since the 2008-2009 season, when it began 5-0.
"We still have room to improve," Coach Steve Shields said. "I like their unselfishness and their ability to pass the ball. They recognize the fact that there could be a different guy every night. That's a big positive when you have a group that's willing to sit on their ego and be a part of something that's bigger than themselves."
White's offensive rebound led to his layup that gave UALR its largest lead, 66-49, with 12:26 left and forced UCA Coach Russ Pennell to call a timeout.
UCA cut the lead to seven points twice in the second half, with junior center Jake Zuilhof's layup pulling the Bears to within 75-68. But UALR made 8 of 9 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Trojans finished 21 of 25 from the free-throw line and went 11 of 15 in the second half.
UCA (0-6) is in its first season under Pennell, who replaced interim coach Clarence Finley following last season. Of the 10 players who saw action Saturday, nine are newcomers. Sophomore Ethan Lee is the only holdover from the 2013-2014 team.
Junior guard Mike Martin led the Bears with 21 points, including five three-pointers. Howard finished with 20 points and made four three-pointers. Zuilhof added 14 points and five assists for the Bears, who shot 47.3 percent (26 of 55) and finished 11 of 25 (44.0) from three-point range.
While UCA was within single digits in the final five minutes, but that wasn't enough for Pennell as he tries to rebuild the Bears, who are ineligible for the postseason this year because of a ban levied against the program by the NCAA because of its low Academic Progress Rate.
"We have to learn that we can't go empty possessions for two or three minutes," Pennell said. "That's part of our youth. We'll turn the ball over, then we'll take a bad shot. We don't box out on the other end.
"Right now, I have guys who don't quite understand that in college basketball, it's hard to overcome that. Good teams are going to punish you for that. That's what UALR did to us tonight."
UCA trailed 44-37 with less than 20 seconds left in the first half. But freshman guard Mathieu Kamba's layup did not fall and White hit a three-pointer with no time remaining to give the Trojans a 47-37 lead at halftime.
Martin's three-pointer gave UCA a 25-23 lead with 9:30 remaining in the first half, but UALR used an 11-0 run to take a 34-25 lead. Freshman forward Albert Christensson ended the Bears' field-goal drought of 3:37 to pull them within 34-27 at the 5:53 mark.
The Trojans shot 56.7 percent (17 of 30) in the first half while the Bears shot 52.0 percent (13 of 25). White scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half.
Sports on 11/30/2014