CONWAY -- The UALR men's basketball team showed its defensive prowess Wednesday night against Central Arkansas and in the process remained undefeated through nine games.
UALR held UCA without a field goal for the final 6:39 of the first half and routed the Bears 77-54 in front of an announced crowd of 3,055 at the Farris Center.
The Trojans (9-0), who received votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, are one of eight teams in the nation without a loss, along with No. 1 Michigan State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 9 Purdue, No. 10 Xavier, No. 18 SMU and unranked South Carolina.
Marcus Johnson Jr. led the Trojans with 16 points and was one of four players to score at least 10 points. Jalen Jackson, who played at UCA in 2013-14, had 14 points. Josh Hagins scored 13 points, while Maurius Hill added 11.
UALR, which entered this week leading the nation in scoring defense by allowing 53.2 points per game, closed the first half on a 15-0 run to lead 37-15 at halftime.
"We were a focused basketball team," UALR Coach Chris Beard said. "We were defending at a high level. We were sharing the ball on offense. It was a clean half of basketball."
Jeff Lowery scored for the Bears to cut the lead to 22-15 with 6:39 left in the first half, but that was it for UCA for the remainder of the half. UCA guard Derreck Brooks turned the ball over at halfcourt, and Hagins converted the steal into a dunk that gave UALR a 31-15 lead with 2:40 left in the half. After another UCA turnover, Jermaine Ruttley passed to Hill for a basket and a 33-15 advantage.
Hagins' jumper with 15 seconds left capped the Trojans' 15-0 run. Mike Martin's three-point attempt for the Bears fell short, and the Trojans led by 22 points at halftime.
UCA missed its final seven field goals of the first half and was held to its lowest first-half point total of the season, eight fewer points than it had scored (23) at Pittsburgh on Dec. 6.
UALR shot 48.4 percent from the floor (15 of 31) in the first half while holding UCA (1-8) to 22.2 percent shooting (6 of 27). UALR finished 28 of 62 (45.2 percent) overall and limited UCA to 40.4 percent shooting (21 of 52).
Bears Coach Russ Pennell was discouraged by his team's offensive output. Other than Jordan Howard's 14 points and Justin Foreman's 13 points, no Bears player scored more than seven. UALR's bench outscored UCA's 39-10.
"I'm not getting much out of my bench right now," Pennell said. "We need to take some hard looks at people. I told them that in the locker room. You don't just come to a school and it's Club Med and everything's good. You have to perform. You have to live up to your end of the bargain.
"We've got some guys who aren't doing that right now, and we need to get that corrected."
The Trojans' largest lead was 59-28 with 10:13 remaining, but Beard wasn't happy with his team's defensive performance in the second half. UCA shot 60 percent (15 of 25) over the final 20 minutes.
"I thought Central Arkansas whipped us in the second half," Beard said. "Championship teams don't play the scoreboard. They play basketball. They play each possession to win. Our team isn't quite there yet. We have to develop a maturity and experience where whether we're up 10 or down 10 that we're trying to win each possession.
"Tonight in the second half, we took a step back."
While UALR is off to its best start in program and Sun Belt Conference history, Beard is keeping his team on an even keel.
" The biggest game on our schedule is the next game," said Beard, whose Trojans host Northern Arizona on Sunday. "We never talk too far ahead. I'll give the players a lot of credit for the early success we've had.
"We all realize that the season is very, very young. We have a lot of basketball left. As long as we continue to get better, I think we'll have a chance to be a very competitive team in our conference."
SUN BELT WOMEN
ARKANSAS STATE 66,
AUSTIN PEAY 55
Senior guard Aundrea Gamble scored 14 of her season-high 28 points in the decisive third quarter as the Red Wolves (6-2) pulled away from the Lady Governors (2-10) before 2,837 Wednesday afternoon at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.
ASU led 32-29 at the half, but the Red Wolves outscored the Lady Govs 21-12 in the third quarter. Austin Peay pulled within one point on a three-pointer by Madison Rich, but ASU used a 12-0 run to extend the lead.
Arkansas State won its 14th consecutive home game, the ninth-longest women’s streak in the nation.
Gamble was 11 of 18 from the field, including 2 of 6 from behind the threepoint line, and had 5 assists and 4 steals. Khadi Brown-Haywood had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals for ASU. Amanda Lawson added 11 points and three blocks.
Tiasha Gray led Austin Peay with 14 points. Rich and Tearra Banks each added 12.
ASU will play its final nonconference game of the season Monday at Nebraska. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
Sports on 12/17/2015