Trojans Fall to Cyclones in NCAA Second Round

DENVER – The Little Rock men's basketball team's historic season came to an end one win short of the Sweet Sixteen on Saturday night.
 
No. 4 seed Iowa State's offense was too good to slow down as the Cyclones defeated the No. 12-seeded Trojans 78-61 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Pepsi Center on Saturday night. 
Little Rock (30-5) ends its season after setting program records for wins (30), road wins (12) and conference wins (17). The Trojans advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second round for just the second time in program history and the first time since 1986.

"Personally I'm proud to be the coach at Little Rock, proud to coach these guys," Beard said. "I think this is my 22nd year in coaching, and every year when the season ends, the locker room is always filed with tears. Myself included. I've cried every year. I didn't cry this year. I'm happy, man. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my coaching career because I just had a chance to coach these guys and we really had a special season. I'm appreciative of our players taking me on this ride."

Roger Woods led Little Rock with 19 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double and Lis Shoshi scored in double figures with 10. In his final game with the Trojans, senior Josh Hagins had eight points and six rebounds.
 
But Iowa State got strong shooting throughout the night, making 53 percent of its attempts in the first half 60 percent in the second half, finishing the game 56.6 percent from the field. Georges Niang led the Cyclones with 28 points.
 
Trailing by 12, Little Rock began the second half with a 3-pointer from Woods that put him over double-figure scoring for the night. But Iowa State scored 6 of the next 8 points, bringing their lead back up to 13 points at 46-33 at the second half's first media timeout. The Cyclones got the next 7 points out of the timeout as well, growing their lead to 20.
 
Shortly after that, Little Rock used a 7-0 run to cut Iowa State's lead to 55-42 with nine minutes left, but the Cyclones responded with the next 4 points and never led by fewer than 13 again.
 
Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 9 points for the Trojans, and Kemy Osse hit two 3-pointers to finish with 6 points. Mareik Isom had 3 while Jalen Jackson, Maurius Hill and Deondre Burns had 2 each. Hagins had the second-most rebounds on the team with six and led the Trojans with four assists.
 
Iowa State began the game on fire from the 3-point line, making its first three attempts from distance. The Cyclones also got two baskets inside the arc in the first four minutes and took a 13-5 lead into the first media timeout. Iowa State missed its first shot of the game and then made five straight heading into that media timeout.
 
After the break, the Trojans got back into the game by scoring the next 6 points to make it 13-11. Iowa State though answered with a 5-0 run of its own, and a Shoshi jumper just before the next media timeout made Little Rock's deficit 18-14 with 10:43 left in the half.
 
Shoshi's jumper was the start of 8 straight Trojan points scored by the junior as he brought the Trojans within 2 points at 21-19. But Iowa State's offense kept pushing, and the Cylones hit a 3-pointer before the next media timeout to take a 24-19 lead with 7:19 left.
 
Little Rock again got within 2 points at 26-24 on a Kemy Osse 3-pointer with 5:25 remaining in the half, but the Trojans could not score after that. Iowa State went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes, forcing Little Rock to take a timeout to regroup for the period's final 1:44.
 
Woods immediately responded with a floater, but Iowa State kept its offense going. The Cyclones closed the half on a 14-4 run over the last five minutes to take a 40-28 lead into the break. Shoshi and Woods each had 8 points for the Trojans at halftime.