Second-half stall drops UALR

SUN BELT MEN

UT-ARLINGTON 75, UALR 68

The UALR men's basketball team appeared to start Saturday's game well enough to avoid a nerve-wracking finish similar to many it has experienced this season.

Not quite.

A slew of Texas-Arlington three-pointers erased UALR's 11-point halftime lead, and the Trojans couldn't make enough of their own to keep up.

After UALR led by 14 points in the first half, Texas-Arlington made seven three-pointers in the second half of a 75-68 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1,959 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

For UALR Coach Steve Shields, the most egregious period that led to his team's fifth Sun Belt loss by seven or fewer points was easy to identify. It was the opening moments of the second half in which a listless UALR team that looked opposite of what he saw in the first half let its lead slowly slip away.

"We lost that game in the first five minutes of the second half," Shields said. "They brought energy to start the second half, and that's the unfortunate thing for us, our energy and intensity to start the second half."

Trying to win a game that would pull it out of last place in the Sun Belt, UALR jumped out to an 8-0 lead and came up with defensive stops on Texas-Arlington's first nine possessions.

The Trojans (7-12, 2-7) led 15-2 six minutes into the game, 31-17 with 5:16 left in the half and 39-28 at halftime after making 6 three-pointers without committing a turnover and holding the Mavericks (12-7, 6-3) without an offensive rebound.

"We just came out the right way, playing hard, executing," said guard Josh Hagins, who had 12 points. "Everybody was [excited], and we just needed to carry it out longer than it did."

Texas-Arlington Coach Scott Cross said he felt the turn in the opening seconds of the second half. That's when Drew Charles took an inbound pass and passed it to Lonnie McClanahan for a backdoor layup on the first possession. The layup sparked a 20-8 run by the Mavericks, one that included four three-pointers and ended with Anthony Walker slamming an alley-oop dunk to give them their first lead at 48-47 with 11:51 to play.

Texas-Arlington made 11 of 26 three-pointers in the game, including 7 of 14 in the second half.

"Sometimes it's just one basket and your bench gets into it and your guys feel good about themselves," Cross said. "It's amazing how one basket can help you."

UALR tied the game twice but failed to get the stops that would have given it a chance to retake the lead.

Roger Woods, who finished with 14 points, made one free throw to tie it at 48-48 but missed the second. McClanahan then made two free throws to give Texas-Arlington the lead back.

Later, Hagins made a three-pointer and a layup to erase a five-point deficit and tie the game at 55-55 with 8:04 left, but Ben Dillard missed a jumper that would have given UALR the lead. Its final chance to retake the lead came with 3:21 left when James Reid missed a three-pointer down 63-61.

McClanahan led Texas-Arlington with 22 points to lead a group of four players with 10 or more. Erick Neal, Jamel Outler and Charles each made 3 of 5 three-pointers, while Neal and Outler finished with 11 points and Charles had nine. Kevin Hervey made one three-pointer and finished with 10 points.

"We let them get too comfortable in the second half," Reid said. "You let guys hit open threes early, they're going to hit contested ones. We've got to do a better job of keeping our edge defensively for 40 minutes."

Reid made 4 of 9 three-pointers to finish with 12 points and UALR made 9 of 29 as a team, but Shields thought his team became too reliant on outside shots. As the Mavericks were making shots from the perimeter, Shields wanted to see his team try to score inside.

"I thought at times we settled," Shields said. "The ball has to go inside more and we've got to play more inside out."

Sports on 01/25/2015

Upcoming Events