Box Score
Trojans take 82-63 win over Southern Arkansas
Nov. 20, 2004
Box score
Brandon Freeman scored 37 points and Darius Eason
hit for 28 as UALR took an 82-63 win over Southern Arkansas to open the
season Saturday night at Alltel Arena.
Freeman scored 13 consecutive points to begin the
game, and 22 of the Trojans' first 24.
"It was good to see him get off to a good start,"
UALR head coach Steve Shields said of Freeman, who was named to the
preseason All-Sun Belt Conference second team.
"And we did a good job of getting the ball inside to
Eason to start the second half."
Eason scored 18 of his career-high 28 points in the
second half. He also grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots, which
gives him 71 career blocks. Eason is in sixth-place on UALR's all-time
blocked shots record, and needs just four more swats to tie Gilbert
Maxwell's 75 blocks from 1979-81.
Southern Arkansas led 11-10 with 14:45 to play
before Freeman hit a trey and a layup and Zack Wright made a basket inside
for a 17-11 UALR advantage. The Muleriders never took back the lead,
though they did cut it to one, 19-18, on a layup from Cedric Davis with
10:51 remaining.
UALR held a 25-20 lead when Eason took over. The 6-9
senior from Little Rock McClellan High School scored the final 10 points
of the first half to give the Trojans a 35-25 going into the break.
The second half began like the first one ended, as
Eason accounted for eight of UALR's first 11 points as the Trojans took a
46-33 lead with 15:44 to play.
Southern Arkansas managed to cut the lead to single
digits just once the remainder of the game, as Kenny Langhorne's
back-to-back three-pointers pulled the Muleriders to within 48-39 with
13:05 remaining.
Richard Hardman grabbed 10 rebounds for the Trojans
and Zack Graber handed out six assists.
Langhorne led SAU with 17 points and Brandon White
scored 14. The 'Riders shot 36.9 percent from the field, while UALR hit
35-of-61 for 57.4 percent.
"This was a good home win for us," Shields said,
"because you've got to protect your home court. We had good energy from
the start tonight, which we didn't have in our exhibition games."
UALR faces a stiff test on the road next week, as
the Trojans take on two 2004 Final Four teams. UALR plays at Oklahoma
State on Tuesday, and then travels to Atlanta to face national-champion
runner-up Georgia Tech on Friday.
The Trojans return to Alltel Arena on Nov. 30 to
host Southern University.
