Box Score JONESBORO, Ark. ? The UALR men's basketball team (4-8, 0-2) battled back from an early 13-point first-half deficit but endured an 8:07 drought between field goals in the second half as Arkansas State (4-5, 1-0) pulled out a 69-61 victory at the Convocation Center.
Starting in place of the injured Mike Smith, sophomore Courtney Jackson recorded his first-ever double-double with career highs of 13 points and 13 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to overcome UALR's .383 field goal percentage and -10 margin on the boards.
Trailing 41-37 at the break, the two teams embarked on a back-and-forth start to the second half with UALR tying the game at 52-all on a fastbreak layup by Matt Mouzy with 10:31 to go. Unfortunately for UALR, it would mark the team's last field goal for a stretch of 8:07, with junior Alex Garcia-Mendoza finally breaking the drought with a layup at the 1:24 mark.
ASU capitalized on UALR's drought by putting together a 12-3 run, capped off by a layup by Bryant with 37 seconds to go which gave the Red Wolves a 67-58 edge. With the game tied at 55-all, JeJuan Brown delivered a 15-foot jumper to put the Red Wolves ahead for good. Bryant followed with a jumper of his own moments later to make it a four-point contest, 59-55, then found a wide-open Adams under the basket on the next possession for an uncontested layup with 3:46 left to go.
Four different players scored in double figures for ASU, led by a game-high 17 points off the bench from Daniel Bryant. Martavius Adams added 11 points and nine boards, while Trey Finn chipped in nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Red Wolves shot just 40.7 percent as a team, but converted 21-of-30 free throws (70 pct.) while UALR made good on only 9-of-17 trips to the charity stripe (52.9 pct.). Garcia-Mendoza paced the Trojans with a team-high 16 points in the losing effort, going 6-of-11 from the field.
Arkansas State used an 11-2 run early on in Sunday's contest to jump out to a quick 18-8 lead. Adams set the tone for the ASU offense at the onset of the game, making each of his first four field goal attempts as the Red Wolves took control early on.
Trailing by 13 points, 23-10, at the 12:28 mark, the Trojans got a spark from junior Matt Mouzy, who found the bottom of the net on each of his first three three-point attempts, the last of which made it a 26-21 contest with 9:53 remaining.
ASU was able to extend its lead back to nine points on two separate occasions, but the Trojans were able to make it a four-point game at the break, 41-37, behind the play of Mouzy and Jackson. Mouzy scored nine first-half points off a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range, while Jackson matched his career high of 10 points by going 5-of-6 from the floor. The Paris, Texas-native also grabbed a team-high seven boards in the first half, three of which came on the offensive end.
UALR returns to action Tuesday night when it takes on Wright State at 6 p.m. (CT).
