LITTLE ROCK — Louisiana-Monroe lost the game as soon as it lost its lead.
Ben Dillard scored 17 points as UALR defeated Louisiana-Monroe 83-58 Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
Louisiana-Monroe (0-4, 0-2 Sun Belt) led 10-4, and UALR trailed until forward James White tied it 14-14 with dunk at 11:11. Louisiana-Monroe then surged ahead with three-pointers by Trent Mackey and Kyle Koszuta for a 20-14 lead with 9 minutes remaining.
UALR (6-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) took the lead when Dillard converted a three-pointer from the left side of the baseline that made it 21-20 at 6:48, then took the lead for good at 23-20 with a steal and layup.
“Once again, we got off to a slow start,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said.
UALR led 32-27 at halftime and opened the second half with a 9-1 run. Taggart Lockhart made a three-pointer that put UALR ahead 48-38 with 13:04 remaining, and Louisiana-Monroe went scoreless over the next three minutes as UALR pulled ahead 53-38.
The Trojans added an 11-6 run and held Louisiana-Monroe scoreless for nearly three minutes again before Jayon James connected on a threepointer for the Warhawks. Josh Hagins responded with consecutive three-pointers with five minutes remaining that put UALR ahead 74-50, and the Trojans led by at least 20 points the rest of the game.
Shields attributed the offensive burst to better ball movement.
“When we’re just pounding the ball we’re not very good,” Shields said. “We’ve got to get the ball moving.”
White added 14 points for UALR, and Will Neighbour had 13 points and 6 rebounds.
James led Louisiana-Monroe with 15 points.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 72, ARKANSAS STATE 65
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Greg Gantt finished with 29 points, and Stefan Moody came off the bench to score 22 as Florida Atlantic beat Arkansas State. Trailing 32-31 at halftime, Florida Atlantic (3-4, 1-1) opened the second half on a 19-7 run to take a 50-39 lead. The run was spurred by 3 three-pointers, one from Jackson Trapp and two from Gantt. Arkansas State (4-3, 0-2) fought back, taking a 57-56 lead on Brandon Peterson’s layup with 6:17 left to play, but Gantt scored eight consecutive points, giving the Owls a 64-59 advantage with under three minutes to play.
SOUTHLAND WOMEN
TENNESSEE-MARTIN 72, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 48
MARTIN, Tenn. — Tennessee-Martin (3-5) used a 33-8 run in the second half to build its lead to 51-31 and cruised from there as the Skyhawks defeated Central Arkansas (3-2) in a nonconference game. Jasmine Newsome led Tennessee-Martin with 25 points, while junior Megan White scored a career-high 13 points. Heather Butler added 11 points. Megan Herbert scored 18 points and was the only UCA player with at least 10. Herbert also led UCA with seven rebounds.
Sports, Pages 32 on 12/02/2012