UALR was enjoying its best three-week stretch of the season going into Thursday night's game against Georgia State, but not even Coach Steve Shields could have predicted what unfolded at the Jack Stephens Center.
UALR made a season-high 14 three-pointers and shot 50 percent from the field against the conference's preseason favorite as it continued to roll with a 92-83 victory over Georgia State in front of an announced crowd of 1,879.
Mareik Isom made five three-pointers, J.T. Thomas made four and both finished with 17 points as the Trojans won for the fifth time in their past six games.
UALR (13-15, 8-10) also had a season-high 20 assists and only eight turnovers.
All of that came against a team with a plus-4.93 turnover margin and hadn't allowed 60 points in six consecutive games while holding opponents to 30 percent shooting from the floor during that span.
"We knew about that, but we really weren't worried about that," senior guard Ben Dillard said. "We just knew we had to come out and shoot the ball with confidence and we would be all right."
Isom and Thomas were among five Trojans who made three-pointers. James Reid was 3 of 7 and finished with 16 points, while Maurius Hill had one three-pointer and 16 points and Josh Hagins made another and finished with 10 points.
Georgia State's zone defense that had given UALR trouble in their three meetings since the Panthers joined the conference last year. UALR had 17 turnovers in an 82-69 loss Jan. 3 in Atlanta. On Thursday, the Trojans hit threes consistently and at other times raced down the court so quickly the Panthers couldn't set up their defense.
"They're so good defensively," Shields said. "If you play against a set five defense, you're going to struggle against those guys."
UALR's 92 points marked its most in a non-overtime game this season and the most against Georgia State all season.
"We score 80-something points we usually win games, but give them credit," Georgia State Coach Ron Hunter said. "They were really good today."
UALR was so good that it didn't matter that two of the Sun Belt's best guards combined for 43 points. Ryan Harrow, the league's leading scorer, scored 22 points while R.J. Hunter had 11 in the first seven minutes and finished with 21.
Hunter's three-pointer seven minutes into the game gave the Panthers a 17-14 lead, but he didn't score again until a tip-in less than four minutes into the second half. UALR led 50-44 by that point, and Hunter and Harrow couldn't dig their team out of the hole.
"You're never going to stop those two guys," Shields said. "You'd like to contain those guys a little bit more than we did, but we put such a focus on those two guys."
Even with Hunter's hot start, Georgia State couldn't pull away from the Trojans. It took its biggest lead at 19-15 with 11:28 left in the first half, but Isom answered with his first three-pointer and UALR outscored Georgia State 19-7 over the next six minutes to take a 33-26 lead with 5:55 left in the half.
Trailing 41-35 at halftime, Georgia State cut the lead to 45-42 early in the second half before Dillard answered with a driving layup to end the threat.
UALR made sure there weren't any more threats by making seven three-pointers in the second half. Thomas' three-pointer gave UALR a 50-42 lead with 15:59 to go, Maurius Hill made it 58-48 with a three with 13:50 left, and Isom made 3 three-pointers over a 5 1/2 minute stretch with the last giving UALR an 81-67 lead with 3:55 left.
"With the zone, if you move the ball to the right places you're going to get a lot of open looks," Dillard said. "We knew where to look and where to take the ball, and we just got a lot of open looks."
Dillard, who tied UALR's school record by playing in his 120th career game, finished with 8 points and 4 assists, while Thomas and Reid had 6 assists each.
UALR didn't secure a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament with Thursday's victory, but it can with a victory Saturday at Texas-Arlington.
"I think it's a credit to those guys in that locker room," Shields said. "Even during the stretch we weren't playing well, we had great practices, high-energy practices. That's a credit to those guys in that locker room."
ARKANSAS STATE 81, TEXAS-ARLINGTON 80
Anthony Livingston’s tip-in with 13 seconds left gave Arkansas State (10-15, 5-11) a victory over Texas-Arlington (15-11, 9-7) at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Livingston finished with 31 points and 15 rebounds for the Red Wolves, who trailed 80-79 before his go-ahead basket. Texas-Arlington had a chance to win the game, but Erick Neal’s jumper did not fall. Frederic Dure had 20 points for ASU. Cameron Golden added 11 points. Neal and Jamel Outler led the Mavericks with 21 points. Lonnie McClanahan had 11 points. ASU shot 43.1 percent (25 of 58) from the floor and made nine three-pointers. The Red Wolves outrebounded the Mavericks 43-34.
Sports on 02/27/2015