Will Neighbour has made a point to improve his play in the post this season.
But the one time UALR’s junior forward stepped out on the perimeter to take a shot Thursday, his threepointer halted a Louisiana-Monroe rally and helped deliver UALR a 70-60 victory at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, La.
Neighbour’s three-pointer from the top of the key cameless than 30 seconds after Louisiana-Monroe had gotten within 61-58 with 1:38 left after a 9-0 run capped by two threepointers by Trey Lindsey.
After Neighbour’s threepointer, James White followed with a dunk and Josh Hagins made two free throws to give UALR a 68-58 lead with 31 seconds left.
The victory, coupled with Arkansas State’s loss at Middle Tennessee, put UALR (15-10, 9-5) alone on top of the Sun Belt Conference West Division standings with six games remaining in the regular season.
It was also UALR’s third consecutive road victory this season after losing its first seven on the road.
It was also the first time this season UALR followed a home loss - South Alabama won 70-66 on Saturday in Little Rock - with a road victory.
“It’s excellent,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said. “That’s showing this young team is getting better at their focus, and they’re getting better at recognizing how they’ve got to play wherever they’re at. ... We had good energy, good toughness, good togetherness.”
Hagins led UALR with 14 points. Gus Leeper had a season-high 12 points and Neighbour finished with 11 points.
Lindsey finished with 18 points off the bench for the Warhawks.
Louisiana-Monroe guard Amos Olatayo entered averaging 15.9 points per game and had scored 21 or more points in each of his past three games. But he was held to nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and was 0 of 3 on three-pointers.
“I thought we defended with a passion,” Shields said.
UALR took control in the first half when it scored 10 consecutive points to break a 19-19 tie in the first half and closed the first half on a 17-4 run to go up 36-23 at halftime.
The Trojans twice led by 13 points in the second half before Louisiana-Monroe (3-16, 2-11), which has lost eight consecutive games, started chipping away at the lead.
With UALR leading 40-28, Lindsey made two free throws and a three-pointer in the middle of a 10-0 run to get within 40-38 with 12:58 left and Jayon James’ free throws with 12:06 left made it 42-40.
Kemy Osse and John Gillon then combined to make four free throws, Leeper tipped in a basket and Osse’s threepointer made it 51-40 with 10:53 left.
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/08/2013