BURN THE HORSE
UALR Coach Steve Shields always talks about "Championship Plays." They are the plays at the end of a game that make a difference in wins and losses. UALR made a bunch of them down the stretch on Tuesday night to win the Sun Belt Championship.Josh White hit’s a tough running bank shot with 1:43 left to give North Texas a 59-52 lead
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| Eric Kibi (left) and Marlon Louzeiro celebrate on Tuesday. |
2. North Texas inbounds to Josh White and D’Andre Williams is all over him. As White nears half court, he sees Alex Garcia-Mendoza in position for a trap and hesitates. Williams reaches in and picks the ball cleanly and White fouls him with 1:21 left. Williams makes both free throws for a 59-56 score.
3. White drives left and Gus Leeper extends his arm to make it a tougher shot. It misses and D’Andre Willliams grabs the rebound and sprints the other way with the ball. It’s about to become a 3-on-1 when North Texas’ Tristan Thompson fouls him with 48 seconds left. Williams makes both free throws for a 59-58 score.
North Texas executes flawlessly on the other end except for one thing. Josh White hits about a 25-foot three-pointer to give North Texas a 62-58 lead with 23.7 seconds left. Problem is there was still 14 on the shot clock when White let that shot go. They could have left UALR with only about 10 seconds to rally for four points. It didn’t look like the wrong decision at the time.
4. UALR Coach Steve Shields calls a timeout with 22.2 seconds left. Then Shields immediately asks officials to check the game clock on the courtside monitor. Officials put a second back on the clock, leaving 23.2 seconds left. UALR sets up a handoff screen.
5. Garcia-Mendoza inbounds the ball and Bozeman wastes little time going to work. He drives right as Mouzy comes up from the corner. As Bozeman hands the ball off to Mouzy, Bozeman sets the screen of his life, dropping Dominique Johnson to the court with 20 seconds left.
6. Mouzy uses the opening to nail a three-pointer with 17.6 seconds left to cut the lead to 62-59.
7. Shields calls a timeout. Instead of fouling right away, he tells his players to try and get a trap first, then foul if necessary.
8. North Texas inbounds the ball to Thompson and UALR traps with Bozeman and Leeper. He passes back to Shannon Shorter as Williams steps to him. Shorter panics, trying to get the ball to either White or Johnson, who isn’t ready for the ball when it slips past White. Mouzy steps right into it for the steal and makes a good pass to Williams. Williams gives it right back and Mouzy gets a wide open three-pointer that hit’s the front of the rim.
Thompson grabs the rebound and Garcia-Mendoza fouls him with 7 seconds left. The clock actually ran a bit long right there. Looked like it was closer to eight seconds left when the foul occurred. But officials never checked. Thompson missed the first free throw and made the second for a 63-61 lead.
9. UALR was out of timeouts, but North Texas did the Trojans a favor by calling a timeout. Shields makes sure everyone knows the situation. Bozeman he can either take an open three or get it inside for a two.
10. Bozeman catches the inbounds pass and takes five dribbles as he comes up the court. As the ball hit’s the floor for the fifth time, Bozeman uses his right hand to nudge Shorter with 4.1 seconds left. It’s just enough of an opening for him to get the shot off with 3.4 seconds left. UALR has no players in the free throw lane and likely isn’t getting a rebound if it misses. The ball arcs perfectly and swishes through the basket with 1.8 seconds left.
The clock doesn’t stop until 1.5 seconds and North Texas calls timeout. Again, officials could have check the monitor but didn’t.
11. Shields screams at his celebrating players to get off the court. A technical foul was definitely a possibility if they continued. “Get over here,“ Shields screams at them. He tries to calm the celebration and holds his hand out like a stop sign toward Bozeman. “It’s not over yet.”
12. North Texas looks like it doesn’t know what it’s doing on the inbounds play. Garcia-Mendoza steps in front of the inbounds pass and the clock runs out.
Trojans win.
