Deck stacked against Trojans, but UALR holds off ASU on the road

BURN THE HORSE

63     62

UALR struggled mightily most of the night. They played with Will Neighbour limited by a shoulder injury. And with starting point guard D’Andre Williams limited by severe foul trouble. They got badly outrebounded and couldn’t make free throws.

Yet with the game on the line, the Trojans played like champs.

UALR gutted out a 63-62 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro to go 5-0 in the Sun Belt Conference for the first time in school history. Even more impressive, four of those five victories have come on the road against West Division opponents.

“This is a good one for us. This is a good one,“ UALR Coach Steve Shields said. “It’s good for the guys in that locker room.”

Counting last year’s Sun Belt Tournament, UALR has now won nine consecutive games against Sun Belt Conference opponents.

This one wasn’t easy. UALR fell behind by as many as 10 points early and trailed by seven at the half. The Trojans hadn’t won a game when trailing at halftime this season. But that statistic would change.

UALR battled back to take the lead before a three-pointer by Rakeem Dickerson gave ASU a 55-49 lead with 6:22 left.

UALR continued to battle and made its run when Williams, with four fouls, re-entered the game. A layup by Chuck Guy with 2:58 left cut the lead to 59-58. Then a tip-in putback by Michael Javes gave UALR a 59-58 lead with 2:28 left.

Ed Townsell made two free throws with 1:28 left to give ASU a 60-59 lead, but a three-pointer by Neighbour with 1:16 left gave the Trojans a 62-60 lead.

After both teams got a stop, Townsell made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the lead to 62-61. ASU fouled freshman Taggart Lockhart, who made 1 of 2 for UALR for a 63-61 lead. ASU had a couple of final chances. First Townsell was fouled with 1 second left. He made the first free throw for a 63-62 score. He missed the second and got the offensive rebound. But his putback at the buzzer missed as UALR held on.

Guy led UALR with 18 points and carried the Trojans through most of the second half. Neighbour was limited to 22 minutes but had 10 points. Michael Javes had 9 points and 5 blocks.

“Despite that run where we were failing to win, we were playing good in spurts. We just weren’t finishing games,” Shields said.

UALR finished again on Saturday.