Box Score LITTLE ROCK ? The UALR men's basketball team (6-15, 2-8) picked up its second-straight home court victory with a 69-57 win over the University of Denver (13-8, 6-4) on Thursday night. The Pioneers entered the game ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage, but shot a season-low 32.8 percent from the floor against the Trojans.
Denver ran out to a 14-1 lead at the start of the game, but the Trojans fought back to pull within one at the half, 25-24, then shot 57.9 percent from the field in the second half to improve to 10-0 all-time against the Pioneers in the state of Arkansas.
“We had to change things up after the 14-1 start, and I thought our guys were sound defensively for the rest of the game,” said UALR head coach Steve Shields. “Our guys did a good job of jumping towards the ball tonight, which is something we haven't done consistently this season.
“That is what solid man-to-man defensive teams do. They apply good ball pressure. Hopefully we can continue with that.”
Junior Matt Mouzy went 4-of-5 from three-point range on his way to a team-high 17-point performance, while junior Derrick Bails chipped in a career-high 15 points off the bench after knocking down 9-of-10 free-throw attempts. Junior Solomon Bozeman added 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the win.
UALR outshot the Pioneers 52.9 percent to 32.8 percent on the night, and outscored DU 26-to-10 at the foul line. The Trojans went 18-of-34 from the field, including a 7-of-14 effort from three-point range, and shot 78.8 percent at the charity stripe (26-of-33). UALR committed 17 turnovers to Denver's nine, but played to a +12 margin on the glass (38-to-26) with a game-high seven rebounds from Bozeman and senior Wayne Burton.
DU's Brian Stafford went 5-of-10 from three-point range on his way to a game-high 18 points in the losing effort. The rest of the team wasn't nearly as successful from three-point range, making a combined 4-of-22 from beyond the arc as DU shot 28.1 percent from long range in the loss (9-of-32).
The Pioneers jumped out to a 14-1 lead at the start of the game, as the Trojans went scoreless for the first 5:31, while DU hit four three pointers over the first 6:46. Stafford connected on his first three treys to stake DU to the early 13-point lead, but the Trojans responded with 10-unanswered points (six from Mouzy) to make it a 14-11 contest with 8:44 to go.
Trailing 21-15, the Trojans put together a quick 9-0 run, capped off by a three pointer from sophomore Kelson Stewart, to take their first lead of the night, 24-21, with 3:15 remaining. After takings its first lead however, the Trojans went scoreless over the final 3:14, and Denver received a pair of layups from Nate Rohnert to take a 25-24 lead into the break.
Tied at 32-all with 16:55 left in the game, Bozeman delivered a jumper in the paint to put the Trojans on top for good. Leading 34-33, UALR ripped off an 11-3 run, with points from five different players, to go on top, 45-36, after an offensive putback by junior Alex Garcia-Mendoza.
Up 53-44 with 5:29 to go, junior Ricky Davison sank a pair of foul shots and Mouzy knocked down his fourth three pointer of the game to give UALR a 14-point lead, 58-44. The Pioneers were unable to get within 10 points the rest of the way.
UALR returns to action Thursday, Feb. 4 when it hosts Arkansas State at 7 p.m.
