Box Score
UALR dominates New Orleans, 66-49
Feb. 5, 2005
Box score
Darius Eason recorded the first double-double of his
career in UALR's 58-54 win at South Alabama on Thursday, and Too Tall
followed that up with a 14-point, 10-rebound performance to help the
Trojans to a 66-49 win over New Orleans on Saturday.
Brandon Freeman scored 15 for UALR (14-8, 6-4 Sun
Belt Conference) while Richard Hardman contributed 13 points and 8
rebounds. Bo McCalebb led New Orleans (10-12, 5-4) with 20 points.
"Darius Eason is playing with a lot of confidence,
and our guards have a lot of confidence in him and are getting the ball
inside to him," UALR coach Steve Shields said.
UNO took a 5-0 lead to open the game before a basket
from Hardman and a jumper and layup by Eason put the Trojans up 6-5 with
16:11 left in the first half. UALR would lead the rest of the game.
The Trojans would lead by as many as eight in the
first half and took a 34-29 lead into the break.
"We always want to play inside-out, and our guards
did a good job of getting the ball inside," Shields said. "Twenty-two of
our 34 points in the first half were from our post players."
The Trojans got the lead into double digits when
Eason hit two free throws with 14:33 left in the game and put UALR up
45-34. Hardman got free inside for a layup with 14:10 to play for a 47-34
lead. After UNO's Ben Elias made one free throw, Freeman drained a trey
with 11:59 remaining to put UALR ahead 50-37, and the Trojans simply
pulled away from there. UALR went on a 10-0 run, started with a jumper
from Columbus Willis and ending with two free throws by Zack Wright, and
took a commanding 60-37 lead with 8:44 left to play.
UALR outrebounded New Orleans, 37-30, marking the
second consecutive game in which the Trojans pulled down more boards than
their opponents. On Thursday, UALR notched 46 rebounds while South Alabama
got only 27 for the Trojans' largest rebounding advantage of the season.
On Saturday, the Trojans hit 15-of-19 from the free
throw line while UNO made four of its nine attempts. UALR also blocked six
shots, its second-highest block total of the year, with Eason recording
two of those swats. Eason now has 93 career blocked shots and needs just
seven more blocks to move into a tie for third place on UALR's all-time
list.
The Trojans will travel to Jonesboro to play at
Arkansas State on Thursday. UALR will then play at Western Kentucky on
Feb. 17 and take part in the ESPN Bracket Buster with a game at Bowling
Green on Feb. 19.
