UALR was in desperate need of a victory Saturday night. The way in which it finally got one worked out nicely.
The Trojans, having lost their past two games and looking for their first home victory of 2017, built an 11-point halftime lead then broke the game open early in the second half and cruised to a 73-56 victory over South Alabama on Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
The victory snapped UALR’s two-game losing skid — it hadn’t won since Jan. 7 at Appalachian State — and was its first home victory since beating Louisiana-Monroe in overtime Dec. 31.
The blowout was unlike UALR’s recent performances as it was the Trojans’ largest victory over a Division I team this season, and it was their easiest conference victory since it thumped South Alabama 74-43 last year at the Stephens Center. The Trojans’ confidence had been teetering after down-to-the-wire losses to Arkansas State and at Coastal Carolina.
“Personally, I think we needed a night like this,” said Marcus Johnson Jr., who had 22 points in his return to the starting lineup. “We didn’t lose any confidence, but at the same time, we gained some confidence.”
The first 20 minutes weren’t anything new to UALR (12-7, 3-3), which led 43-31 a week earlier at halftime before losing 77-72 to Arkansas State. This time, the Trojans stretched a 12-11 lead halfway through the first half to a 33-22 halftime advantage. Players and coaches reminded one another in the locker room about the halftime lead that was wasted against ASU.
“One of the things we tried to focus on this week was, when we get up, keep going,” said Jalen Jackson, who had 16 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. “Don’t hold off. Keep playing and finish the game.”
UALR 73, SOUTH ALABAMA 56
That was evident after the first five minutes.
Johnson, who has come off the bench the last three games, made a jumper and then scored on a breakaway layup to give the Trojans a 37-22 lead. Later, another Johnson steal off a breakaway kickstarted an 11-2 run that put the game out of reach.
By the time Deondre Burns’ jumper went through with 11:35 left, UALR led 52-30 and Coach Wes Flanigan looked up at the scoreboard a bit surprised.
“I don’t think you can ever expect a game to go that way,” he said. “I thought overall we had a good team effort, and we played well as a team. I thought these guys brought a great amount of energy and passion tonight.”
The Trojans shot 46.2 percent to make amends for their 20 turnovers. But Flanigan thought the bigger impact came on defense, where they held the Jaguars (9-10, 2-4) to 35.3 percent from the floor and to 21 points below their season scoring average. It came a week after UALR let ASU shoot 52.0 percent in the second half of that loss.
For Flanigan, the improvement was simple.
“Just being aggressive,” he said. “Not letting them be comfortable. It’s what we’ve been talking about.”
The Trojans were playing for the second game in a row without senior forward Lis Shoshi, who was out with a toe injury. Flanigan said last week that he expected Shoshi to play Saturday, but now isn’t sure when he will return. Oliver Black started in his place and scored 7 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.
Flanigan is still tinkering with his starters, using Johnson and Burns to start for the first time this year. Johnson made 7 of 13 shots and 3 of 7 threes, while Burns scored 9 points and had 3 rebounds.
SOUTHLAND MEN
NEW ORLEANS 81,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 61
CONWAY — New Orleans (11-7, 6-1 Southland) used a 15-2 run midway through the second half to pull away from Central Arkansas (4-16, 3-4) at the Farris Center.
Jordan Howard’s three-pointer for UCA with 10:22 left in the game left the Bears trailing 56-51 before the Privateers went on their big run. Jeff Lowery scored on a layup with 9:04 left for the Bears to make it 61-53 before New Orleans distanced itself further with a 10-0 three-minute spurt to make it 71-53.
UCA, which never led, tied the score four times, the last on Howard’s jumper to make it 38-38 with 17:20 left in the game. UCA’s Mathieu Kamba led all scorers with 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Howard added 14 for the Bears.
SWAC MEN
TEXAS SOUTHERN 70,
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 63
PINE BLUFF — Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-16, 3-3 Southwestern Athletic) could not keep a nine-point, second-half lead and fell to Texas Southern (10-9, 6-0) at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
The Golden Lions led 35-26 with 18:38 left in the game after Trent Steen’s basket. From there, the Tigers outscored UAPB 44-28. Zach Lofton’s two free throws with 5:14 left gave Texas Southern the lead for good at 57-56.
Lofton led all scorers with 24 points. Jalan McCloud had 15 for the Tigers, while Demontrae Jefferson added 10.
Steen’s 19 points led the Golden Lions. Jaquan Lynch came off the bench to score 13 points for UAPB, which got 10 more from JoeRandle Toliver.
Sports on 01/22/2017