JONESBORO — Donald Boone tilted his head, scissors in hand, and climbed the three ladder steps to cut down the net Saturday, celebrating Arkansas State’s first division title since 2007.
The Red Wolves guard snipped the first loop after a 71-63 victory against UALR before a roaring crowd of 6,836 at the Convocation Center that won them the Sun Belt Conference West Division.
“It feels real good to go out on a winning note,” said Boone, a sixth-year senior. “We lost a lot the first two years and turning it around is a good feeling.”
Arkansas State Coach John Brady said he told his team a bye in the Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs and a perfect home record might just be the start of things.
“This part of the journey was over today,” Brady said he told his team. “We have a week to prepare for another journey. That’s a weekend in Hot Springs, and if you do that, that journey can take you to a place you’ve never envisioned, that they’ve never experienced. That you’ve just seen on TV.”
The West Division-sealing victory for Arkansas State (17-14, 11-5 Sun Belt) was forged bydefense in the second half.
Trailing 48-38 with 14:40 left, the Red Wolves went on a 16-4 run over 10 minutes, holding UALR (15-15, 7-8) to 2 of 15 shooting during the comeback and 30.3 percent in the half.
Boone, who scored a gamehigh 16 points and went 9 of 11 from the free-throw line, put the Red Wolves ahead for good 54-52 with 4:52 left with two free throws.
The Red Wolves finished 33 of 44 from the line and a plus-14 rebounding advantage, which helped make up for a 40.3 percent shooting performance, including an 8-of-26 outing by its starting backcourt of Boone, Rashad Allison and Trey Finn.
“You tell your team if you’re not shooting the ball well how do you get points,” Brady said. “You throw it to the post to get the post men to foul, or you shot-fake and draw the foul.”
For UALR, senior guards Solomon Bozeman, Matt Mouzy and Alex-Garcia Mendoza were catalysts in the first 20 minutes, scoring 30 points on 13 of 19 shooting.
Mendoza scored 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting to lead UALR, while Bozeman added 12 points and Mouzy had 12.
“We did a good job in the first half of tempoing it,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said. “Knew we were at a tough challenge from a rebounding standpoint. With their length and athleticism I knew we were at a tough stage from that standpoint.
With the Trojans trailing 22-21, Mendoza hit a floater to put UALR ahead 23-22 with 6:36 left. Two trips later, he made a pull-up jumper to make it 30-22 with 4:57 left, capping a 9-0 run in which the senior scored 7 points.
Yet, the veterans were held to 10 points and missed 14 of 18 shots in the second half.
“We did a good job in the first half to execute and get open shots,” Garcia-Mendoza said. “We just couldn’t do it in the second half. We had our chances at open shots and we missed.”
As he walked off the floor at the break, Brady knew what he’d tell his team.
“Forty points at home with a chance to win something special won’t do it,” Brady said. “I don’t care how many rebounds we secured the first half, or how many times we went to the foul line the first half.”
Allison, Finn, Boone and forwards Malcolm Kirkland and Jeremy Thompson responded.
Kirkland and Thomasprovided an interior punch off the bench, contributing a combined 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Trailing by five points, Kirkland picked up two baskets in the lane to pull Arkansas State within three points, hitting a jumper over forward Derrick Bails to make it 50-47 with 12:19 left.
Six minutes later, Thomas dunked to extend the lead to 58-53 and start a 9-2 run that made it 65-55 with 1:24 left.
Sports, Pages 30 on 02/27/2011