Reasons for worry outnumbered those for optimism with the UALR men's basketball team Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans entered their Sun Belt game against Appalachian State having lost four consecutive games, seven of their past eight, and took the floor after Coach Steve Shields suspended two key players for the first half.
None of that mattered as DeVonte Smith, starting in place of suspended J.T. Thomas, and forward Gus Leeper sparked the Trojans to their best first half of the season in a 64-46 victory over the Mountaineers.
Leeper scored 10 of his career-high tying 12 points in the first half while Smith sparked the offense with 4 points, 4 assists and he had zero turnovers in 29 minutes as the Trojans shot 51.0 percent, a high against Sun Belt teams this year, and held a 34-30 rebounding advantage.
Most important, UALR (6-9, 1-4) got a victory, becoming the last Sun Belt men's team to do so, and won for the first time at home since Nov. 29.
"Great win for us, it was much needed, it can get us on a roll," said Smith, who started for the second time this season. "We've been playing hard, it was just a matter of time before it came."
UALR Coach Steve Shields echoed Smith's thoughts, but was most pleased with UALR's rebounding and how it held Appalachian State (4-9, 1-3) to 30.2 percent shooting, a second positive defensive performance in three days for a team that has struggled on that end of the floor all season.
UALR entered the game allowing teams to shoot 44.5 percent from the floor and a Sun Belt-high 73.4 points per game, but held Texas State to 34.8 percent in a 77-74 loss in double overtime on Thursday night.
But, Shields said, few things convince players of improvement like victories.
"Eventually you've got to see results from your continued progress and I think we saw that tonight," Shields said.
UALR played the first 28 minutes without guards Thomas and Hagins. Shields suspended them for the first half for incidents that occurred during Thursday's loss. Thomas, who had started the first 14 games, was disciplined for conduct after the loss and Hagins, third on the team at 9.8 points per game, was held out after he received a technical foul during the second half of that game.
Hagins entered with UALR leading 48-38 with 11:35 remaining and had 5 points and 5 rebounds. Thomas entered less than a minute later and had one rebound.
"I thought they were very energetic and enthusiastic on the bench in the first half, and I told them my decision in the second half would be based off that," Shields said. "I thought they were very involved in the game."
Shields credited positive energy for UALR's good start, which saw it make 8 of its first 11 shots while taking a 16-7 lead on a Leeper jumper six minutes into the game.
Leeper, averaging 2.9 points before Saturday, scored eight more points in the first half and finished with a season-high 12 points and five rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
"You take some things away, but you can't take everything away," Appalachian State Coach Jim Fox said. "He made us pay for doing that. Good job by them; they found the open man better than we did."
Roger Woods finished with a team-high 15 points for UALR, while James White had 10.
Frank Eaves had 15 points for the Mountaineers, but it came on 4 of 12 shooting against a Trojans team that Leeper said have finally decided to play defense after a difficult five-week stretch in which it lost 7 of 8 games.
"It really opened the guys' eyes to 'Hey, coach's philosophy works,' " Leeper said. "They saw a lot of the games we lost we didn't do that. And I think from now on we're going to be playing like we need to play. Everybody bought in, and we can really take off from here."
TEXAS-ARLINGTON 77, ARKANSAS STATE 50
ARLINGTON, Texas — Johnny Hill scored 14 points to lead a balanced and overwhelming attack as Texas-Arlington (8-6, 2-2 Sun Belt) defeated Arkansas State (6-7, 1-3).
Greg Gainey had 13 points for the Mavericks, Lonnie McClanahan added 12 and Kevin Hervey contributed 11 points as Texas-Arlington shot 45 percent from the floor and was 23 of 29 from the line.
It didn’t get any better after intermission. PJ Hardwick’s jumper with 5:07 left pushed the lead to more than 30, and the Mavericks cruised the rest of the way.
Sean Gardner paced Arkansas State with 16 points.
SOUTHLAND MEN
LAMAR 84,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 65
BEAUMONT, Texas — Zjori Bosha made 5 of 8 from three-point range to score 19 points as Lamar rolled over winless Central Arkansas.
Bosha, who tied his career high for points, made 7 of 10 field goal attempts and had four steals. Kevin Booze had 14 points, Anthony Holliday added 13 and Tyran de Lattibeaudiere chipped in 11 for Lamar (8-7, 2-1 Southland).
Lattibeaudiere drove for a layup to break open a tight game and start a 14-2 run midway in the first half. Central Arkansas could not answer and the Cardinals drove to a 52-29 lead at the break.
Mike Martin scored 14, Jordan Howard had 13 and Ethan Lee contributed 12 for Central Arkansas (0-14, 0-3).
SWAC MEN
ALABAMA STATE 74,
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 71
Bobby Brown scored 20 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including four three-pointers, to lift Alabama State to a victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
Brown, who also had eight rebounds, missed only one of his seven free throws. Wendell Lewis contributed 16 points and Maurice Strong added 15 points to help the Hornets (7-5, 3-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) to their fourth consecutive victory.
Trailing 36-29 at the break, Alabama State finished with 24 for 48 shooting from the field, hitting 8 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-13, 0-2) shot 47.5 percent from the floor but was outrebounded 39-22.
Marcel Mosley led the Golden Lions with 19 points, Jovaughn Love added 16 points and Ghiavonni Robinson had 11.
Sports on 01/11/2015