With neither team at full strength,
UALR used a late run to beat Louisiana-Lafayette 80-69 on Thursday night at the
Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
UALR senior Will Neighbour led the
Trojans with 24 points and 12 rebounds. A second-half three-pointer put him
over 1,000 points for his UALR career. He’s now the sixth player in UALR
history to top 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
But it was who wasn’t there that will
likely steal the headlines. UALR once again played without sophomore forward
James White and junior point guard J.T. Thomas. Louisiana-Lafayette was missing
likely first-team all-Sun Belt Conference forward Shawn Long, who was
apparently suspended pregame, and Kasey Shepherd, who was injured last
Saturday.
Early on, it was the Ragin’ Cajuns,
led by point guard Elfrid Payton, taking it to UALR. The Cajuns led by as many
as 11 points early in the game.
Both team’s lack of depth on the front
line was tested throughout. UALR managed to get some big minutes from freshman
Mareik Isom, who finished with 7 points and hit his first three-pointer in 12
games. Louisiana-Lafayette got a mammoth, pun intended, game from J.J.
Davenport, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds while facing tremendous abuse from
the UALR student section.
But it was UALR shooting 56 percent
from the field in the second half and a poorly-timed technical foul on
Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Bob Marlin that made the difference.
With Louisiana-Lafayette leading
55-49, UALR’s Leroy Isler seemed to gain brief control of the ball in a
scramble. Just as he did, UALR Coach Steve Shields hopped out onto the court
and screamed for a timeout. It was granted. Then Marlin protested a bit too
much and was given a pretty quick technical foul.
Neighbour made two free throws and the
UALR rally was on. Isom and DeVonte Smith made tough layups and then Ben
Dillard made two free throws to give UALR a 57-56 lead with 10:55 left.
The lead went back and forth over the
next couple of minutes before UALR seized control. Neighbour scored on a
putback and, after a turnover by Payton, Kemy Osse converted a three-point play
for a 69-63 lead. A putback by Leroy Isler and layups by Smith and Dillard made
it 76-66 with 3:16 left.
UALR then put the game to sleep from
there.
The Trojans outscored the Cajuns 31-14
after the Marlin technical foul.
Hagins added 14 points for UALR while
Dillard had 11.
Payton led Louisiana-Lafayette with 20
points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
