Little Rock Tops Tulsa to Improve to 6-2

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock (6-2) used a 27-4 run to close the first half while earning a 72-62 win over Tulsa (3-3) at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday. Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 16 points while Lis Shoshi totaled 15 points and eight rebounds.
 
Little Rock trailed by as many as nine in the opening half, but closed the half by playing arguably its best basketball of the season. The Trojans held Tulsa without a field goal for the final 8:46 of the half while scoring 13 straight points as part of a larger 27-4 run over the same span. Once down 27-18, Little Rock went into halftime leading 45-31.
 
Tulsa turned it over 16 times in the first half as Little Rock led 15-2 in points off turnovers. The Trojans committed three turnovers against 10 assists over the first 20 minutes.
 
Tulsa pulled as close as four on three occasions in the second half. The final time, Jaleel Wheeler's 3-point play pulled the Hurricane to a 56-52 score with 9:44 remaining. But Little Rock answered with four straight points from Johnson and Andre Jones to push the lead back out to eight. The Trojans went up 11 on another Johnson basket with 3:25 to play and Tulsa pulled no closer than nine the rest of the way.
 
The Hurricane finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor, but couldn't overcome 22 total turnovers and a 4-of-17 effort from 3. Little Rock shot 47.5 percent and made 6 of 15 3-pointers.
 
Led by Shoshi (4), Little Rock finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds and led 18-2 in second-chance points.
 
Oliver Black came off the bench to match a season high with nine points while grabbing two rebounds and blocking a shot. Jalen Jackson, Maurius Hill, Kemy Osse and Deondre Burns all totaled seven points.
 
Wheeler led three Tulsa players in double figures with 17 points.
 
Little Rock returns hosts UAPB at the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday night. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m.