LITTLE ROCK — The UALR men’s basketball team entered Thursday looking for its first road victory against a Middle Tennessee team that hadn’t lost at home all season.
Neither of those trends changed.
Middle Tennessee made nine three-pointers, 56 percent of its shots and held UALR to a season-low point total in its 82-50 victory at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Neiko Hunter scored 15 points to lead Middle Tennessee as five Blue Raiders scored at least 10 points and six made three-pointers.
Shawn Jones added 12 points, while Raymond Cintron and Tweety Knight each made two three-pointers and finished with 10 points each for a Middle Tennessee team that ranked seventh in the Sun Belt Conference in three-point shooting.
Marcos Knight added 11 points for the Blue Raiders (15-4, 7-1 Sun Belt), who have won 22 consecutive home games.
Five days after a season-best offensive effort in an 88-76 victory over Florida International, UALR had one of its toughest offensive games Thursday. The Trojans were held to 35.3 percent shooting and committed 19 turnovers while falling to 0-7 in road games.
Josh Hagins finished with a team-high 14 points and Kemy Osse had 11 points for the Trojans (11-9, 5-4).
A lengthy scoring run by Middle Tennessee in the first half turned the game into a blowout Thursday.
UALR took a 10-8 lead when Hagins drove down the left side of the lane for a layup with 14:15 left in the first half, but Middle Tennessee’s Marcos Knight made a threepointer from the corner and then made another threepointer from the wing as the Blue Raiders outscored the Trojans 21-4 .
Knight made a layup after a steal during the run, Cintron made a three-pointer from the corner and J.T. Sulton scored on a dunk off a fast break that made it 24-14 with 8:58 left.
By the time Osse made a three-pointer from the corner to end the run, Middle Tennessee led 29-17. UALR trailed 36-17 going into halftime.
Middle Tennessee outscored UALR 15-2 in the second half to extend its lead to 70-38 with 5:32 left, and Zane Gibson’s three-pointer with 3:47 left gave Middle Tennessee its biggest lead at 73-40.
No Blue Raider had more rebounds than Tweety Knight’s six, but Middle Tennessee outrebounded the Trojans 33-22 and had 23 assists on 28 made shots.
Sports, Pages 22 on 01/18/2013