HOT SPRINGS, Ark. ? UALR junior Mike Smith tallied team highs of 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 74-62 exhibition win over Harding University at Summit Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Trojans shot 53.7 percent from the field in their only warm up for the 2008-09 season, and held the Bisons to a .339 shooting percentage.
The Trojans connected on 54.5 percent of their attempts in the first half to build a 45-32 at the break, and led by double digits the rest of the game. Seniors John Fowler and Brandon Patterson added 12 points a piece in the win, with Fowler adding five rebounds, three steals and a block.
“I can't say enough about John Fowler's effort tonight,” said UALR head coach Steve Shields. “I thought he was phenomenal from start to finish, and that kind of effort is contagious for your whole team.”
Sam Brown led four Bisons in double figures with 13 points off 4-of-10 shooting from long range, while Kirk Porter contributed 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Steven Barnett led all players with seven assists, but accounted for eight of the Bisons' 18 turnovers.
“You have to give them credit. They were an injured team coming in, but Jeff (Morgan) does a phenomenal job getting his guys ready to play, and has for the past 16 years,” said Shields. “They didn't back down at all.”
UALR committed 19 turnovers in the game and shot just 54.5 percent from the foul line (12-of-22), but enjoyed a 41-to-30 edge on the glass. Freshman guard Lionel Foster logged the most minutes of any Trojan reserve on Sunday, totaling a team-high three assists against one turnover in 17 minutes of action.
The Bisons scored the first points of the game to take a 2-0 lead, but UALR answered with a quick 9-0 spurt to take control early. Smith set the tone for the Trojans at the start, scoring seven of the team's first nine points off 3-for-3 shooting.
Harding pulled within two points, 12-10, off a three-point play by Kevin Brown, but the Trojans responded with an 11-2 run to go on top 23-12 with 11:00 left in the half. The Bisons refused to go away quietly, whittling UALR's lead down to four points, 30-26, thanks to back-to-back three pointers from Porter and Sam Brown.
Holding a slim four-point lead, junior Steven Moore answered with a three pointer of his own to spark a 9-0 run and extend UALR's lead to 13 points, 39-26, with 4:16 on the clock. Four-straight points from Patterson gave the Trojans a 43-28 edge, their largest of the half, with 1:37 to go.
The Trojans took a 45-32 lead into the intermission after shooting 54.5 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes. Harding, meanwhile, shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the half, including a .278 clip from beyond the arc (5-of-18).
The smaller Bisons actually won the rebounding battle over the first 12 and a half minutes of the game, playing to a 12-9 edge on the glass, before the Trojans outrebounded Harding 13-9 the rest of the way.
Harding never seriously threatened in the second half, as UALR built its lead to as high as 19 points, 70-51, with 4:43 to go.
UALR opens the 2008-09 regular season next week with a pair of games in California. The Trojans will face Cal Poly on Friday, Nov. 14 in the season opener, before taking on Pepperdine on Sunday, Nov. 16.
