JONESBORO -- It was happening all over again.
The deficit, the one taking the decisive shot, the team that was defending it -- this felt all too familiar for a reason.
Just as it had played out late in the first meeting between these two in-state rivals two weeks ago in Little Rock, junior guard Marquis Eaton of Arkansas State University once again had a game-tying, three-point attempt in the final seconds to potentially force overtime with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Only this time Eaton wasn't rushing up the floor and having to heave the ball with his left hand over a 6-10, 250-pound defender with a second left, like he did Feb. 8. This time it was a set play, nine seconds sat on the clock and Eaton came sprinting out to the left wing before catching and shooting.
But Eaton's shot clanked off the side of the rim, and UALR sophomore point guard Markquis Nowell grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to push the Trojans' lead to five with seven seconds left, effectively icing the game.
UALR escaped First National Bank Arena with a 81-78 victory over ASU on Saturday, marking the first time the Trojans (19-9, 13-4 Sun Belt Conference) have swept the season series against the Red Wolves since the 2014-15 season.
"On the road you have to have composure and keep your poise, and I thought we did that down the stretch," said UALR Coach Darrell Walker, whose team entered Saturday coming off back-to-back road losses and had been 7-7 on the road this season.
"I pretty much was calm, they were calm. We've been there before, been in a lot of close basketball games, and it was a good win for us. We needed one."
The Red Wolves needed one just as badly, if not worse, but they were again left reeling.
ASU (15-14, 7-11) continued its late-season spiral into the abyss with a seventh consecutive defeat, the longest losing streak of Coach Mike Balado's three-year tenure. ASU hasn't won since Jan. 25.
ASU held a lengthy team meeting Thursday to hash things out, a day after its 14-point loss at home to last-place Louisiana-Monroe, but it didn't materialize into a win on Saturday.
"The trajectory's headed in the right direction. We've just had a bad stretch," Balado said of where his program is holistically. "We're going through a difficult time right now."
No team meeting could have prepared the Red Wolves for Saturday's effort by UALR's Kamani Johnson, who posted a double-double with a game-high 32 points and 16 rebounds -- each career highs for the sophomore forward.
Johnson was difficult to handle inside all game, and Balado credited him with helping get four Red Wolves to foul out. Johnson finished the day 14-of-19 from the foul line, accounting for over half of UALR's 37 free throw attempts.
Even despite going over seven minutes without a field goal in the first half, the Trojans still took a 37-35 lead into the break.
Johnson had 11 points and eight boards at that point, but he really began to assert his will over the final 20 minutes, which became pivotal as both junior forward Ruot Monyyong and sophomore forward Nikola Maric dealt with foul trouble before the two eventually fouled out.
Johnson scored eight of UALR's first 10 points in the second half, then later tallied 10 points in a row as UALR took a 61-57 lead with 8:25 remaining.
"Today, [with] guys in foul trouble, we kind of just needed an energy booster," Johnson said. "Why not me? So I just had to be that guy for our team."
But that's when Eaton began to erupt for ASU.
Eaton completed a three-point play, then quickly stole a pass before completing another. All of a sudden, ASU was up 63-61 with 8:03 left.
Later, Eaton scored eight consecutive points, including a three with 4:17 left that tied it 72-72. Eaton -- who dropped 25 points and hit six threes against UALR on Feb. 8 -- followed it up with a season-high 27-point outing on Saturday, hitting 5-of-7 from long range.
But none of his threes were quite as big as the one Nowell hit with 54 seconds to play, which put UALR back in front 78-76. Nowell, who finished with 19 points and six assists, used a ball screen from Johnson on the left wing before pulling up while falling off balance.
Johnson followed it up with a key block on the other end before poking loose a steal that found the hands of UALR freshman guard Jovan Stulic. Nowell then hit one of two from the foul line to put UALR up 79-76 with 28 seconds remaining.
Eaton's missed three less than 20 seconds later all but clinched it for UALR, which remains atop the Sun Belt with a 1 1/2-game lead over Texas State with three games to play.
"This team you see right here, we've got a bigger goal than the Sun Belt Conference, and I'm not being cocky," Walker said. "My goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament."
Sports on 02/23/2020