LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas State didn’t equal the offensive pace it showed during three consecutive victories heading into Saturday night, but its defensive effort was enough to give the Red Wolves their fourth consecutive victory, and this one clinched the Sun Belt Conference West Division title.
The Red Wolves held Troy to 29.2 percent shooting and held it scoreless for nearly 10 minutes in the first half of a 58-50 victory at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.
The victory, coupled with UALR’s loss at Florida Atlantic, allowed ASU to clinch the West Division title and the No. 2 seed in next month’s Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs.
The Red Wolves (18-9, 12-6) play at North Texas and UALR next week, but it won’t matter in its tournament seeding.
“Our mission isn’t over,” ASU Coach John Brady said. “We have plenty more basketball to be played. ... We have more things to do, and the message to our players is it isn’t over.”
ASU’s victory in its home finale was essentially decided during a 10-minute stretch of the first half.
Raymond Chambers’ layup with 11:28 left in the first half pulled the Trojans (11-18, 6-12) to within 11-10, but they didn’t make another shot from the floor until Hunter Williams’ layup with 1:49 left. By that time, ASU had taken a 21-12 lead after Troy had missed 13 consecutive shots and committed two turnovers.
ASU outscored Troy 14-4 over the final 11:28 of the first half and led 25-14 at halftime.
Brandon Peterson, the Sun Belt’s player of the week last week, had 15 points and nine rebounds. Trey Finn had 13 points and five rebounds in his final game at the Convocation Center.
ASU had scored at least 67 points in consecutive victories against Western Kentucky, UALR and Louisiana-Monroe before Saturday. The Red Wolves scored 86 in a Feb. 14 victory over UALR and 87 in a Feb. 16 victory at Louisiana-Monroe and shot 51 percent or better in each victory.
They had a bit more trouble scoring in the first half Saturday. ASU shot 32 percent (8 of 25) before halftime but made 50 percent of its shots (11 of 22) in the second half.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 73, UALR 59
The Trojans dropped their fourth consecutive Sun Belt Conference game, losing to the Owls despite committing only five turnovers and grabbing 17 offensive rebounds at Boca Raton, Fla.
UALR (15-14, 9-9 SBC) could not overcome 33.3 percent shooting as Florida Atlantic (13-17, 8-11 SBC) was boosted by Greg Gantt (26) and Stefan Moody (25), who combined for 51 of FAU’s points.
Junior Leroy Isler led UALR with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 1 steal in 34 minutes. Freshman Josh Hagins scored 10 points and sophomore Ben Dillard had 9 on 3-of-9 shooting.
The Trojans outscored the Owls 14-4 on points off turnovers, but UALR was 3 of 13 from three-point range made only 14 of 23 free throws.
The Owls shot 48.1 percent from the floor, including 7 of 17 from behind the three-point line. FAU made 16 of 21 free throws.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Arkansas State 58, Troy 50 Florida Atlantic 73, UALR 58 Middle Tennessee 87, La.-Monroe 46 South Alabama 69, North Texas 57 W. Kentucky 88, La.-Lafayette 77
THURSDAY’S GAMES All times Central
Arkansas State at North Texas, 7 p.m.
South Alabama at W. Kentucky, 7 p.m.
La.-Lafayette at UALR, 7:30 p.m.
Fla. Int. at La.-Monroe, 7:30 p.m.
Middle Tennessee at Troy, 7:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 33 on 02/24/2013