SUN BELT MEN

UALR overcomes sluggish start

UALR guard Leroy Isler (left) battles for a rebound with Troy forward Tevin Calhoun during the first half of Thursday’s game in Little Rock.
UALR guard Leroy Isler (left) battles for a rebound with Troy forward Tevin Calhoun during the first half of Thursday’s game in Little Rock.

— Steve Shields was relieved his UALR men’s team escaped with a 58-56 victory over Troy in its Sun Belt Conference opener Thursday night.

He wasn’t happy about much else, though.

UALR let Troy, ranked ninth in field-goal percentage among Sun Belt teams, make 48 percent of its shots in the first half and led for more than 34 minutes as UALR failed to defend in the post or create offensive opportunities.

Troy’s lead grew to 31-21 during an eight-point spurt late in the first half and lasted for more than 25 minutes. Taggart Lockhart’s layup sparked a 12-3 run midway through the second half as UALR retook the lead 50-47 on Josh Hagins’ three-pointer.

Troy came back to take a 53-50 lead, but UALR scored seven consecutive points and took a 57-53 lead on two free throws by John Gillonwith 32 seconds left.

Hunter Williams’ threepointer from the top of the key with 10.7 left pulled Troy to within 57-56. Hagins missed the second of two free-throw attempts to give Troy one last chance, but Deonata Jethroe’s mid-range jumper fell short as the buzzer sounded, allowing UALR to pull out a victory even after shooting just 27.3 percent in the first half.

Shields placed part of the blame on sluggish practices since returning from a pair of games in Mexico over the weekend.

“That goes back on me,” Shields said. “That’s my job, to keep our guys on edge, and obviously we weren’t on edge tonight. We didn’t have the intensity level. We didn’t move the basketball the way we moved it last week.”

UALR (5-3, 1-0) didn’t find any sort of rhythm until Lockhart, a 6-4 guard, replaced 6-10 forward Michael Javes to start the second half. Javes was scoreless in 11 first-half minutes.

Williams’ three-pointer less than a minute into the second half gave Troy (4-4, 0-1) a 36-28 lead. UALR pulled to within 38-36 with 14:50 left but still couldn’t get over the hump. Its next three possessions ended with Gillon being called for traveling, a shot clock violation and an offensive foul on Will Neighbour that allowed Troy to push its lead to 42-36.

“We just knew we had to get it turned,” Lockhart said. “It was either that or lose.”

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 80, ARKANSAS STATE 61

MIAMI — Tyrnell Murphy scored 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead Florida International (2-2, 1-0) over Arkansas State (4-3, 0-1), ending ASU’s four-game winning streak in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams at U.S. Century Bank Arena.

Ed Townsel scored 13 points and Trey Finn added 12 for ASU (4-2, 0-1). Brandon Peterson had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Kendrick Washington added nine points and seven rebounds for the Red Wolves, who trailed 33-26 at the half.

Sports, Pages 26 on 11/30/2012

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