LR Knocks Off St. Bonaventure in Lone Star Showcase

CEDAR PARK, Texas – Little Rock (3-1) picked up a 68-65 win over defending Atlantic 10 champion St. Bonaventure (1-2) in the opening game of the Lone Star Showcase at the H-E-B Center.
 
Lis Shoshi finished with 16 points and eight rebounds while Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 14 points and added five boards. Jalen Jackson scored 10 points, Kemy Osse added nine and Deondre Burns came off the bench for eight points.
 
Little Rock, who led by 10 at halftime, had to withstand a hot-shooting second half from the Bonnies, who came into the game averaging just under 80 points per game.
 
St. Bonaventure outscored Little Rock 15-3 to start the second half and took a 43-41 lead on a steal and finish by Jaylen Adams at the 14-minute mark.
 
Little Rock regained the lead at 48-47 on Jackson's transition basket, and from there the game was back and forth, with neither team growing its lead larger than six points.
 
The Trojans were up 60-54 with 5:22 to play, but SBU answered with an 8-0 run to take a 62-60 lead with under two minutes remaining.
 
After Hill went 1 of 2 at the line, Osse's step-back 3 with 1:56 to play put Little Rock back on top 64-62.
 
St. Bonaventure pulled within a point after going 1 of 2 at the line, but Jackson made two huge free throws with 20.1 seconds to play to give Little Rock a 68-65 lead.
 
St. Bonaventure called timeout on its final possession, but Adams' 3 was off the mark as Johnson secured the rebound for Little Rock.
 
Adams scored 18 points to lead SBU, who finished the game shooting 45.7 percent and made 11 of 21 shots in the second half.
 
The game featured six ties and 14 lead changes.
 
A 10-0 run by the Trojans midway through the half turned a tie game into a 23-13 lead with 8:36 left in the half. Little Rock led by as many twice, the second coming with 4:50 until halftime. St. Bonaventure, who made 5 of 7 shots to close the half, went over six minutes between made field goals at one point.
 
Both teams shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half, but the Trojans made 12 of 16 free throws compared to 6 of 8 for the Bonnies over the first 20 minutes. Little Rock's' defense forced SBU into 12 turnovers and the Trojans led 7-0 in second-chance points.
 
Little Rock resumes play at the Lone Star Showcase against Pepperdine on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.