DAYTON, Ohio — UALR never recovered from a 17-0 run to start the game in a 69-47 loss to Wright State on Tuesday before 3,894 at the Nutter Center.
UALR (4-9) has lost four consecutive games for only the second time in Coach Steve Shields’ seven seasons.
All four losses have come away from Little Rock’s Jack Stephens Center.
The only other four-game losing streak came during the 2005-2006 season when the Trojans lost to Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, New Orleans and Louisiana-Lafayette and finished 13-17.
Wright State (8-4) scored the game’s first 17 points and 19 of the first 20 to take control of the game early. UALR cut the lead to 15 points just before halftime, but never got any closer in the second half.
“I think our guys were playing really inspired, very eager, very alert. Just a little more aggressive than we have been at times,” Wright State Coach Brad Brownell said. “We created some offense off our defense and set the tone.”
Junior guard Alex Garcia-Mendoza led UALR with a career-high 21 points. He was the only Trojan to convert a field goal in the game’s first 15 minutes.
The rest of UALR’s startingfive scored a combined seven points as the Trojans committed 22 turnovers and were out of sync offensively from the start.
“We had 15 turnovers in the first half and it’s difficult to win against a good basketball team with that many turnovers,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said.
Junior guard Matt Mouzymade two late three-pointers to finish with nine points.
Troy Tabler led Wright State with 16 points. Kensett’s Cory Cooperwood had five points and six rebounds.
“One bad thing, we played them about even after that first 10 minutes. It’s just the beginning was the difference,” Tabler said.
The Trojans had the same number of turnovers (15) as shots (5 of 15) in the first half. If not for 11 of 13 free-throw shooting, it could have been much worse than a 15-point halftime deficit.
UALR had to call two timeouts before ever scoring.
“We just came out with the mind-set that we were going to shut this team out as long as we could,” Wright State guard N’Gai Evans said.
The Trojans’ first point came on a free throw by sophomore guard Kelson Stewart with 11:38 left in the half, cutting the lead to 17-1.
It was 19-1 before UALR’s first field goal, a layup by Garcia-Mendoza with 9:37 left for a 19-3 deficit. Garcia-Mendoza would score seven consecutive points and nine of 11 in the game before picking up his third foul with 7:41 left. Wright State scored the next six points for a 32-12 lead. The lead reached 36-14 before a three-pointer by junior guard Ricky Davison.
But the Trojans finished the half strong, scoring nine of the last 11 points. And a defensive stop on the final possession ofthe half allowed UALR to go into halftime trailing 38-23.
Wright State scored the first six points of the second half to extend the lead to more than 20 points again.
“The best thing about the game is that we really didn’t let them make a run back at us,” Brownell said. “It didn’t feel like they ever made a serious run to put the game in danger.”
ARKANSAS STATE 71, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 64
GREENVILLE, Miss. - Sophomore guard Daniel Bryant scored 16 points as Arkansas State (5-5) shot 55 percent for the game in its victory over Mississippi Valley State (1-11) at the Washington County Convention Center.
Arkansas State turned in its best shooting performance of the season, hitting 27 of 49 shots.
Martavius Adams was 6 of 6 from floor and finished with 14 points, while freshman Trey Finn had 13 points and made 8 of 8 from the free-throw line down the stretch. Jeremy Thomas added 10 points and went 5 for 5 from the field.
Rashad Allison added 8 points, going 4 of 4 from the field, with 4 assists and 5 rebounds.
“We were flawless, and I was really impressed with how we started,” ASU Coach John Brady said. “We need to be more consistent. We are still a team of pretty good spurts.”
ASU jumped out to a 17-2 start in the first half before MVSU scored its first field goal at the 12:21 mark of the first half on Amos Studivant’s layup. ASU led by as many as 15 in the half.
ASU outrebounded MVSU 39-28 in the game, outscored the Delta Devils 30-18 in the paint and had 10 second-chance points.
Julius Cheeks led the Delta Devils with 19 points.
ASU returns to action Dec. 29 against Central Baptist in Jonesboro.
Sports, Pages 21 on 12/23/2009