SUN BELT MEN

UALR off mark, drops third in row

— The UALR men’s basketball team was full strength for all of Saturday’s game at Louisiana-Lafayette, and Will Neighbour turned in his best game in more than a month.

It still wasn’t enough to overcome a late shooting drought in a 79-70 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette at the Cajun dome in Lafayette, La. UALR has lost its past three games.

Neighbour, a preseason first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection, had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, with most of his points coming from the free throw line, where he made 9 of 11.

A layup by Neighbour pulled UALR within 62-58, but he was held scoreless over the game’s final 5:59.

UALR managed just five points over the next 4:50 on a three-pointer and a layup by Josh Hagins. Kemy Osse made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:09 left, but UALR trailed 71-64 by then and never pulled any closer.

Hagins finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, but no other Trojan had more than seven points. UALR was held to 31 percent shooting (21 of 67) and made just 4 of 20 three-pointers to help cancel out a 44-32 rebounding advantage.

John Gillon returned to the starting lineup for the Trojans after he didn’t start in a Dec. 22 loss at South Alabama because he missed the team bus to the arena, but the freshman guard struggled. He was just 1 of 8 from the field, including 1 of 6 from behind the three point line.

UALR made a season high 24 free throws in 30 attempts, but the Trojans also let the Ragin’ Cajuns shoot 49 percent from the floor as four players scored at least 10 points each. Forward Bryant Mbamalu had 26 points, while Alan-Michael Thompson had 13, Elfrid Payton had 12 and Shawn Long had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Mbamalu was 9 of 14 from the floor and scored on a pair of layups to help Louisiana-Lafayette jump to an 8-0 lead2:15 into the game. He had 12 points in the first half to help give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 31-25 lead with 3:05 left.

ARKANSAS STATE 63, SOUTH ALABAMA 54

MOBILE, Ala. - Brandon Peterson and Rakeem Dickerson scored 15 points each to help Arkansas State (8-5, 2-2) to its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference victory and hand South Alabama (6-6, 3-1) its first conference loss.

Arkansas State shot 38 percent from the floor and held South Alabama to 27 percent shooting, including 4 of 27 from behind the three-point line.

SUN BELT WOMEN

SOUTH ALABAMA 53, ARKANSAS STATE 47

MOBILE, Ala. - South Alabama scored 13 consecutive points in the second half on its way to a victory at the Mitchell Center.

Jane Morrill led the Red Wolves with 19 points and five rebounds, but no other ASU player had more than Ashley Olvera’s eight points.

Mary Nixon led South Alabama with 16 points and nine rebounds.

SOUTHLAND WOMEN

CENTRAL ARKANSAS 91, PHILANDER SMITH 36

CONWAY - Senior forward Megan Herbert scored 19 points and Central Arkansas (7-4) concluded its nonconference schedule with a rout of NAIA member Philander Smith (9-6) at the Farris Center.

The Sugar Bears led 57-13 at halftime.

Junior center Courtney Duever finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes. Freshman forward Julia Mason had a career-high 13 points and senior guard Tracey Parsons also scored 13.

Philander Smith committed 30 turnovers, including 17 in the first half.

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Arkansas State 63, South Alabama 54 La.-Lafayette 79, UALR 70 La.-Monroe 65, Florida Atlantic 64 Middle Tennessee 69, Fla. International 52 W. Kentucky 70, North Texas 64 MONDAY’S GAME All times Central

North Texas at Middle Tennessee, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY’S GAME

Hofstra at Florida Atlantic, 1 p.m.

Sports, Pages 27 on 12/30/2012

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