The UALR Trojans started strong and finished even stronger en route to their second victory of the season at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock on Monday.
The Trojans (2-0) jumped out to a 17-2 lead, let the University of the Ozarks Eagles get back into the game and then cruised in the second half to a 100-61 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1,781.
Nine Trojans scored and 13 UALR players got into the game as UALR Coach Wes Flanigan was able to empty his bench midway through the second half.
UALR will face Idaho, its first NCAA Division I opponent, on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Ozarks, however, did its best to keep things from getting out of hand early, a trend that continued for much of the evening.
Ozarks outscored UALR 13-5 to make it 22-15, and stayed with the Trojans for the first half and up until the first media timeout of the second half.
The Trojans’ lead was 47-36 at the half in what was an exhibition game for Ozarks.
The Eagles missed seven of their first eight shots, but managed to hit 13 of their next 18 and shot 53.8 percent in the first half. Accurate three-point shooting helped the NCAA Division III team from Clarksville. Ozarks was 5 of 11 in the first half and 7 of 19 (36.8 percent) for the game.
“You don’t want to be down 11 at the half as a coach, but against [UALR], we had them right where we wanted them,” Ozarks Coach David Ferrell said, jokingly. “They’re a great team, you can tell that. They won 30 games last year for a reason.”
The Trojans locked down in the second half, holding the Eagles to 10 of 28 shooting from the floor.
“Offensively, I was OK with our effort in the first half,” Flanigan said. “I’ll take 47 points against anybody in the country. But defensively, we just gave up too many easy shots. So, we had a little conversation at halftime about effort and intensity.”
Ozarks scored the first point of the second half with 19:43 to play, but UALR outscored the Eagles 18-3, the final basket coming on an alley-oop dunk by Marius Hill after a pass from Andre Jones.
Hill’s game-high 20 points tied a career-high set against Louisiana-Monroe last season.
Jones, playing in his second college game, score 14 points.
Hill was 8 of 8 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line and finished with a game-high 8 rebounds, including 3 offensive rebounds. Hill hit three of his shots when the Trojans jumped out to a 15-point lead at the start, but said it wasn’t like he was feeling particularly hot.
“I was just taking good shots and I guess they were going down,” Hill said.
No records were broken, but UALR came close to reaching some of the goal Flanigan set before the game.
“I told the guys I wanted them to keep Ozarks under 60 and we came up a little short there,” Flanigan said. “But, we also had a goal of 20 assists and we got 21, so that was nice.”
The Trojans had seven dunks, including one by Jones late in the second half.
“I wasn’t looking for shots or anything, but I was open a lot and Coach told me if I’m open I just need to let it flow,” Jones said.
ARKANSAS STATE 100,
CENTRAL BAPTIST 57
JONESBORO — Arkansas State started quick in first-year Coach Grant McCasland’s Convocation Center debut Monday night.
ASU scored the first 10 points and cruised to a home victory over NAIA Central Baptist. The Red Wolves (1-1), playing three days after a season-opening loss at North Dakota State, made six of their first seven shots to jump to a 16-4 lead less than four minutes into the game following a three-pointer from Devin Carter.
Rashad Lindsey had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for ASU. Conner Kern had 16 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, while Donte Thomas had 14 points.
The Red Wolves shot 53.7 percent from the floor (36 of 67), and made 9-of-20 three-pointers. They held a 49-31 rebounding edge and forced 21 turnovers. Thomas had a team-high seven rebounds, and eight others had at least four.
Andy Ettiene led Central Baptist (3-3) with 10 points. The Mustangs were held to 34.5 percent shooting (20 of 58).
SWAC MEN
UAPB 83, ECCLESIA 47
PINE BLUFF — Arkansas-Pine Bluff opened up a 41-19 halftime lead and never looked back in whipping Ecclesia at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
The Golden Lions (1-1), who hit 17 of their 34 shots in the first half and finished 31 of 62 for the game, never trailed and led by as many as 37 points to overpower the Royals (3-4).
Ghiavonni Robinson had 19 points while Travon Harper added 11 to lead UAPB. Trent Steen finished with 10 points as all 13 Golden Lions players scored.
Austin Burroughs had 14 points to pace Ecclesia, which shot just 16 of 53 (30 percent) for the game and was outrebounded 46-26. David Gaut had 11 points. The Royals also turned the ball over 23 times.
SOUTHLAND MEN
OKLAHOMA STATE 102,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 90
STILLWATER, Okla. — Phil Forte scored 31 points and Jawun Evans had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 8 steals to lead Oklahoma State past Central Arkansas on Monday.
Jeffrey Carroll provided a spark off the bench for Oklahoma State (2-0), scoring 20 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.
Jordan Howard scored 28 points for Central Arkansas (0-2), while Mathieu Kamba contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Sports on 11/15/2016