BURN THE HORSE
UALR flipped the script on an overtime loss at Denver earlier this season. This time it was UALR hanging on to beat Denver 75-72 on Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. |
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Matt Mouzy played a career high 42 minutes and made a career high eight three-pointers on the way to 24 points to lead the Trojans. Solomon Bozeman added 15, Alex Garcia-Mendoza 14 and D’Andre Williams 10 for UALR.
Mouzy entered the game shooting 38.8 percent from three-point range. By hitting 8 of 10 three-pointers on Thursday, he raised his season average to 42.5 percent from behind the arc.
The game mirrored an early January game in Denver with the exact opposite things happening throughout.
In the first meeting, UALR roared back in the final minute to tie the game on a three-pointer by Garcia-Mendoza at the buzzer. This time, Denver had to rally and hit three three-pointers in the final minute, including one inside of two seconds left by Chase Hallam sent the game to overtime.
Mouzy and the Hallam brothers traded three-pointers in the early part of the overtime. After Denver took a 72-71 lead on two free throws by Travis Hallam, UALR re-took the lead on two free throws by Chuck Guy with 18 seconds left.
After a Denver miss, Williams grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws for a 75-72 lead.
Denver went for a long pass and it was stolen by UALR’s Eric Kibi, who was fouled with 1.6 seconds left. Kibi missed both free throws but Denver’s Trevor Noonan missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer as UALR held on.
The game was a matchup of two of the nation’s top five three-point shooting teams. And neither disappointed. Denver made 10 of 21 for 48 percent, while the Trojans were 11 of 17 for 65 percent. UALR is now up to 43.1 percent three-point shooting for the season.
Denver scored the game’s first 10 points and led 30-23 at halftime. UALR used a 21-3 run to take a 47-40 lead with 9 minutes left on a layup by Garcia-Mendoza.
Travis Hallam hit three-pointers with 1:16 left and 22 seconds left and Chase Hallam hit another with one second left to send the game to overtime tied 59-59.
