Box Score OXFORD, Miss. ? The UALR men's basketball team (0-1) opened up the 2009-10 season with a 92-64 loss to Ole Miss (1-0) on Friday night at Tad Smith Coliseum. DeAundre Cranston scored a career-high 21 points off 8-of-9 shooting for the Rebels, who forced UALR into 22 turnovers on the night.
Ole Miss used a 21-3 first-half run and forced UALR into 14 turnovers over the first 20 minutes on its way to a 44-30 lead at the break. Any hopes of a second-half comeback by the Trojans were dashed by a 6:01 scoring drought, which helped Ole Miss' lead reach as high as 32 points in the second half.
“We knew coming in this was going to be a tough challenge with the caliber of guards Ole Miss has and the number of guys they have that can score,” said UALR head coach Steve Shields. “I thought we battled hard in the first half, but the difference in the game was the turnovers.”
Cranston sparked the Ole Miss offense with 13 first-half points and finished with 21 points and seven boards, thanks in part to a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range. Murphy Holloway added a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Rebels, while Terrico White chipped in 16 points and came up with four of the team's 14 steals.
The Rebels shot 48.6 percent for the game and racked up 19 assists against just five turnovers. Chris Warren led the Rebels with five assists while adding nine points and four steals in the win.
Junior Solomon Bozeman paced the Trojans with 12 points and four assists, while senior Wayne Burton added 11 points off 4-of-5 shooting. Junior Alex Garcia-Mendoza contributed nine points and six rebounds in the losing effort.
The Trojans outrebounded the Rebels 39-to-38, led by a team-high seven boards from junior Derrick Bails. UALR earned 31 trips to the foul line, but converted just 18 for a .581 free-throw percentage.
“Like I told our guys in the locker room, the season is not a sprint, it's a marathon. It's a process along the way and I do feel like we will have a good basketball team in time,” said Shields. “Any time you have six new guys, it takes time to develop chemistry and a comfort level with one another.”
Ole Miss held a 6-5 lead through the early goings before breaking the game open with a 21-3 run. Cranston scored 10 of the Rebels' 21 points during the run, hitting a pair of three pointers to help Ole Miss build a 27-8 advantage with 10:44 to go in the half.
Trailing by 19, UALR answered with back-to-back three-point plays from Garcia-Mendoza and sophomore Courtney Jackson as part of a 15-5 run which brought the Trojans within nine, 32-23, with 6:03 remaining.
A quick 7-0 spurt, with a three-point play by Cranston, allowed Ole Miss to extend its lead back to 16 points on the way to a 44-30 lead at the break. The Trojans shot 44.0 percent from the field in the first half and outrebounded Ole Miss 21-to-17, but committed 14 turnovers over the first 20 minutes.
The Trojans trailed 50-37 after a bucket by Burton at the 16:58 mark of the second half, but endured a 6:01 scoring drought which allowed Ole Miss to extend its lead to 28 points, 65-37. Junior Montrell Thornton finally broke the dry spell with a dunk with 10:57 to go.
UALR returns to action Tuesday when it travels to Tulsa, Okla. to take on the Golden Hurricane in a game which will be televised by ESPN as part of the network's 24-hour College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.
