Box Score LITTLE ROCK - The UALR men's basketball team (4-2) overcame a rough first half to knock off Louisiana Tech, 74-65, at the Jack Stephens Center on Friday afternoon. The Trojans trailed by seven at the half after shooting just 14.8 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, but rebounded to shoot 69.6 percent from the floor in the second half to improve to 3-0 at home this season.
Seniors Solomon Bozeman and Alex Garcia-Mendoza led the Trojans offensively, totaling 23 and 17 points, respectively. The duo combined to go 18-of-21 at the free-throw line, helping the Trojans outscore the Bulldogs 29-to-15 at the charity stripe.
UALR's bench came up big on Friday, outscoring the Louisiana Tech reserves 30-to-11 as freshman Chuck Guy chipped in 12 points off 4-of-6 shooting and senior Derrick Bails added a season-high 11. The Trojans played to a +5 rebounding margin in the win, led by eight rebounds from Guy and seven from Garcia-Mendoza.
"I thought our guys did a really good job today on the constants that we can control every time we come to the floor, and those are effort and rebounding the ball," said UALR head coach Steve Shields.
Louisiana Tech (5-2) saw its five-game win streak snapped after shooting just 39.3 percent from the field. DeAndre Brown led all scorers with 24 points in the loss, while Olu Ashaolu added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Bulldogs.
UALR trailed 29-22 at the break after an anemic first half in which the Trojans struggled to find the mark offensively. UALR shot just 14.8 percent over the first 20 minutes, including a 1-for-10 effort from three-point line, but managed to stay in the game by outscoring Louisiana Tech 13-to-4 at the foul line.
Leading by six early on, Louisiana Tech put together a 10-2 run to extend its lead to 14 points. Ashaolu capped off the 10-2 spurt with a dunk to put the Bulldogs on top 23-9 with 8:25 left in the half.
Guy scored UALR's only points of the 10-2 run on a drive to the basket at the 10:33 mark. His bucket would mark the Trojans' last field goal for a stretch of 7:49, as UALR would not make another field goal until Garcia-Mendoza got a steal at midcourt and scored on a fastbreak layup with 2:44 remaining.
Down 25-11, the Trojans embarked on an 11-1 run to make it a four-point ballgame with 29 seconds left in the half. UALR went 9-of-10 at the foul line during its 11-1 run, which included Garcia-Mendoza's drought-ending layup, with Bozeman sinking two free throws to make it a 26-22 contest. With its lead down to four, Brown hit a three pointer in the closing seconds of the half to send the Bulldogs into the locker room with a 29-22 advantage.
UALR's shooting woes were forgotten as soon as the second half started, as the Trojans made 4-of-5 from the field out of the gate and 8-of-12 from the onset of the final stanza. Down 31-22, the Trojans scored 12 unanswered points to go on top 34-31 with 16:22 left in the game. UALR took its first lead of the game at 32-31 as senior D'Andre Williams assisted on a three pointer by Garcia-Mendoza.
Louisiana Tech tried to keep up with the hot-handed Trojans, tying things up at 46-all on a three pointer by Lonnie Smith, but the Trojans had an answer every time the Bulldogs scored. Garcia-Mendoza broke the 46-all tie with a successful three-point play to put the Trojans on top for good, 49-46, with 7:35 remaining.
The Bulldogs managed to stay within one possession of the Trojans over the next four minutes, and trailed 61-58 after a pair of free throws by Ashaolu with 3:20 left in the game. Up by three, Bails delivered a hook shot in the paint and Guy came through with a three-point play on a driving layup to extend UALR's lead to an insurmountable eight points, 66-58, with 2:19 to go.
The Trojans shot a blistering 69.6 percent from the field (16-of-23) and 80.0 percent at the foul line (16-of-20) over the final 20 minutes. Bozeman scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the second half to lead the way for UALR.
The Trojans return to action Wednesday, Dec. 1 when they travel to Springfield, Mo. to take on Missouri State at 7 p.m.
