Little Rock Starts Hot in Win Over Georgia Southern

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock improved to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in Sun Belt play with an 80-67 win over Georgia Southern (7-12, 3-6 SBC) Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans shot 51.0 percent from the floor and made 13 of 22 3-pointers in the win.
 
"First of all I thought Georgia Southern played great," head coach Chris Beard said after the game. "I was really concerned about this game watching film … they have a good coach who really sets his team up nicely."
 
The 8-1 start to Sun Belt play is the best in Little Rock's program history.
 
Marcus Johnson Jr. led the Trojans on offense, scoring 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and 7-of-10 from deep. Tonight marked Johnson's fourth 20-point effort of the season.
 
Roger Woods added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Josh Hagins and Mareik Isom added 10 points each. Hagins contributed six rebounds and six assists in 26 minutes.
 
The Trojans raced out to a 16-point lead in the first half and took a 13-point cushion into intermission. But Georgia Southern cut into Little Rock's lead in the second half, pulling as close as six on two occasions.
 
"I'd much rather finish the game strong that start the game strong," Beard said. "Tonight I'm very pleased with the win. But at the same time we have to play much better than we did tonight moving forward."
 
Georgia Southern started the second half by scoring 12 of the first 17 points to pull within six on the first of two occasions. Both times, Little Rock had the answer.
 
With the margin at 46-40 after Shawn O'Connell's basket with 15:50 to play, the Trojans scored the next five points to get the difference back to double digits. When a Mike Hughes 3-pointer with 12:40 to play made it 53-47, the Trojans ran off nine unanswered to make it a 15-point game with 10:14 remaining.
 
Thanks to Jalen Jackson (9) and Isom, the Trojans finished the night with a 26-15 edge in bench scoring.
 
Little Rock, who made 29 3-pointers in three games last week, started tonight's contest with two more as Osse and Hagins made shots from deep early to build a quick 6-0 lead for the Trojans.
 
The Trojans' lead was into double digits less than 10 minutes in, and grew as large at 16 in the first half. A four-point play by Johnson made it 41-25 with 53 seconds to play in the half.
 
Little Rock is back in action on Saturday when it hosts Georgia State at the Jack Stephens Center. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.