UALR plays catch-up in 2nd half

UALR’s Leroy Isler (right) works against North Texas’ Tony Mitchell, the Sun Belt Conference’s preseason player of the year, in the first half Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

UALR’s Leroy Isler (right) works against North Texas’ Tony Mitchell, the Sun Belt Conference’s preseason player of the year, in the first half Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

Friday, January 11, 2013

— UALR didn’t have to worry about blowing a lead Thursday night like it did in its previous game.

The Trojans were too busy making up a deficit this time.

Five days after blowing a 10-point lead in a road loss to Troy, UALR faced a seven point deficit early in the second half against North Texas on Thursday night and trailed by six points after Tony Mitchell scored six consecutive points.

But Mitchell went to the bench not long after that with his third foul, and UALR rattled off an 18-2 run on the way to a 67-53 victory in front of an announced crowd of 3,288 at the Jack Stephens Center.

UALR shot 60 percent (18 of 30) from the floor in the second half, freshman forward James White scored nine of his game-high 16 points in the half, and UALR held North Texas’ Alzee Williams scoreless after his 13 points helped the Mean Green take a 32-27 lead into halftime.

“We’ve had stretches where we haven’t played as hard as we’ve needed to play,” Shields said. “It’s a fact of life in college basketball. You’ve got to play as hard as you’ve got to play on every possession.”

UALR’s energy helped it improve to 9-1 at home and move it into a tie with Arkansas State atop the Sun Belt Conference West Division.

“At halftime, [coaches] said we can do way better than that,” said guard Kemy Osse, who scored six points and had a key assist in the game-deciding run. “It just motivated us and we came out and played the way we played in the second half.”

The absence of Mitchell helped, too.

Mitchell, who was held to 4 points in the first half and finished with 13, made 1 of 2 free throws with 15:53 left in the game, then drove the baseline for a dunk and made a three-pointer from the top of the key in the span of 1:29 to give North Texas a 42-36 lead with 14:24 left.

Will Neighbour and Leroy Isler scored back-to-back baskets to pull UALR within 42-40, then Mitchell was called for a charge with 12:50 left.

North Texas Coach Tony Benford said he thought about leaving Mitchell in the game and switching to a zone defense to protect him inside, but with only seven scholarship players in uniform because of various injuries Mitchell went to the bench.

“I thought that changed the game,” Benford said. “I wanted to leave him in there. ... It’s tough with seven guys. We would have left him out there. But nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”

Mitchell was on the bench for less than three minutes, but it was enough time for UALR turn a 42-40 deficit into a 48-44 lead with 10:08 remaining.

Even after Mitchell returned, UALR scored six consecutive points to stretch its lead to 54-44 to cap the 18-2 run, and it led by as much as 65-48. The Trojans outscored the Mean Green 31-11 after Mitchell - who eventually could end up a high NBA draft pick - picked up his third foul.

“Anytime you’ve got a pro on the bench over there, it helps,” Shields said.

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 66, ARKANSAS STATE 64

Trey Finn’s basket with 21.5 seconds remaining was waived off because of a foul, and Florida International (7-7, 3-3 Sun Belt) held on to defeat Arkansas State (10-6, 4-3) and end its four-game winning streak Thursday at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.

ASU had scored five consecutive points to pull within 64-62 when Finn stole a pass, but his basket was negated when he was called for a player control foul. Florida International added two free throws in the final second to secure the victory.

“I was proud of our team and the effort they gave,” ASU Coach John Brady said. “The call was a game changer, and I give credit to our team for fighting back and making plays, but we didn’t get the whistle. If we would’ve made some plays earlier in the game it would have been a non-factor.”

FIU trailed 55-59 with 5:39 remaining, but the Panthers outscored ASU 17-9 from there.

Ed Townsel scored a game-high 20 points for ASU, and Finn finished with 13 The Red Wolves made just 20 of 58 shots (34.5 percent) from the field, including 8 of 33 (24.2 percent) from behind the three-point line.

Jerome Fink and Tymell Murphy scored 12 points each to lead FIU. Deric Hill added 11 points and Malik Smith 10.

Sports, Pages 22 on 01/11/2013