SUN BELT MEN

UALR men lose their touch in 2nd half

UALR made enough shots to play with the Sun Belt Conference's top team through much of the first half, but it went cold in the second half in another road loss.

The Trojans were held to 25 percent shooting in the second half as Georgia Southern ran away for a 76-61 victory Saturday night in Statesboro, Ga.

UALR (8-13, 3-8), 1-7 on the road this year, was 10 of 40 from the floor in the second half and Josh Hagins, who was 4 of 4 in the first half, was 1 of 7 and finished with 15 points. Mareik Isom added 10 points and James Reid and Roger Woods added eight points each for the Trojans, who were trying to win a second consecutive Sun Belt game for the first time this season.

Jelani Hewitt, the Sun Belt's third-leading scorer, had 17 points for Georgia Southern (15-4, 8-2), while Angel Matias had 14 and Curtis Diamond had 13 points.

The Trojans shot 57.9 percent from the floor while playing with the first-place team in the Sun Belt for the first 15 minutes. Hagins helped UALR take a 13-5 lead with a three-pointer as he made his first four shots. His last came on a layup that made it 23-21 with 5:22 left in the first half.

After leading 25-24, UALR turned it over four times and missed two of its final three shots as Georgia Southern took a 33-28 lead into halftime. Georgia Southern scored 20 points in the first half off 12 UALR turnovers, and 27 points off 15 turnovers for the game.

"They're a very good team, very well-coached," UALR Coach Steve Shields said. "Unfortunately, we didn't handle adverse situations very well."

Georgia Southern then started the second half on a 14-4 run, capped by Curtis Diamond's jumper that made it 47-32 with 14:10 left, and UALR didn't get within 10 points the rest of the game.

The Trojans had a chance to reach ninth place in the league standings, which is what it needs to qualify for the Sun Belt Tournament in New Orleans next month, but they remain 10th out of 11 teams with nine games remaining.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 73,

TEXAS STATE 63

SAN MARCOS, Texas — Johnathan Stove scored 19 points and Louisiana Lafayette topped Texas State.

Louisiana-Lafayette (12-10, 6-5 Sun Belt) used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to lead by as many as 16. Texas State got a three-pointer from D.J. Brown and went on a 12-4 run — much of it coming at the free-throw line — and trailed by seven, 34-27, at halftime.

Lafayette increased the lead to 44-28 on back-to-back three-pointers by Hayward Register — his only points of the game — early in the second.

Texas State erased its deficit over a six minute period with a 22-4 run, capped by two Kavin Gilder-Tilbury three-pointers which made it 50-48 midway through the second.

ULL responded and ran off 10 consecutive points to go up 68-62 with 1:39 left.

Shawn Long had 17 points and 13 boards for Louisiana-Lafayette.

Gilder-Tilbury led Texas State (10-10, 4-7) with a career-high 20 points.

LOUISIANA-MONROE 67,

SOUTH ALABAMA 61

MONROE, La. — Tylor Ongwae had 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as Louisiana-Monroe streaked to an early lead and then held on to beat South Alabama.

Majok Deng finished with 17 points and Nick Coppola added 15 for Louisiana-Monroe (14-8, 8-3), which never trailed.

The Warhawks jumped out to a 20-7 lead and were up 32-18 at halftime. South Alabama fought back in the second half and closed to 45-42 when John Brown made a three-pointer with 8:29 remaining. Justin Roberson answered with a three-point play and the Warhawks held on for the victory.

ULM is off to its best conference start since the 2006-2007 season and is a half game out of first place in the Sun Belt.

Ken Williams had 23 points and Dionte Ferguson added 18 for South Alabama (7-15, 5-6).

Sports on 02/01/2015

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