LR Stays Atop Sun Belt with 68-64 Win at Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. – Little Rock maintained sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt Conference and handed Louisiana its first home loss of 2015-16 with a 68-64 win in the Cajundome on Saturday. The Trojans (22-3, 12-2 SBC) led by as many as 14, but had to withstand a late rally from the Ragin' Cajuns (14-9, 10-4 SBC) that saw the margin trimmed to one with under a minute to play.
 
"I'm really proud of our players and happy for them," head coach Chris Beard said after the win. "Thursday night, life threw us a punch. Give ULM all the credit – they beat us. And then on a quick turnaround we had to do a little soul searching and fix some things with our team. Our players deserve all the credit; they embrace coaching."
 
Saturday's win makes Little Rock the first team to clinch a 2016 Sun Belt Tournament berth.
 
Little Rock looked like it would hold off the Cajuns' best shot midway through the second half. As Louisiana pulled within six, Jermaine Ruttley's floater with the shot clock expiring pushed Little Rock's lead back out to 52-44 with 11 minutes to play. Following a UL turnover, Jalen Jackson found Roger Woods inside for two to get the margin back to double digits. Mareik Isom's 3-pointer a little over a minute later grew the Trojans' lead to 57-44 with 9:40 left.
 
Josh Hagins' floater along the baseline with 2:06 on the clock pushed the Trojans' margin to nine, 65-56. But Louisiana scored the next eight points, including four on free throws from Johnathan Stove. The Cajuns' final basket came following a Little Rock turnover that made it 65-64 with 27 seconds to play.
 
The Trojans regrouped, and Woods was fouled on the inbound. Following a Little Rock timeout, Woods calmly made both free throws to make it 67-64 with 15 seconds to play. UL came up empty on its next possession, and Hagins added the game's final three throw after being fouled.
 
Hagins led Little Rock with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including a perfect 3-of-3 effort from 3-point range. Woods scored 14 points, while Jermaine Ruttley (9) and Daniel Green (7) came off the bench to combine for 16 points. Isom scored seven points, all in the second half, while making his first start of the season.
 
"I'm really proud of Daniel Green," Beard said. "Here's a guy that's fought through a lot of adversity … we don't win this game tonight without him."
 
Saturday gave Little Rock's its 10^th true road win of the season. In addition to being undefeated at home, UL had won nine straight entering Saturday.
 
Little Rock finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the floor while connecting on 4 of 7 shots from deep. The Trojans turned it over just eight times.
 
Louisiana used a hot-shooting second half to finish the game at 54.9 percent from the floor. The Cajuns made just 3 of 19 from deep but knocked down 19 of 23 free throws.
 
Shawn Long finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds but was limited to two points over the final 20 minutes. Stove led the Cajuns with 18 points.
 
UL's first basket didn't come until nearly six minutes into the game, as Little Rock limited the Cajuns to 9-of-27 shooting from the floor and a 1-of-12 effort from deep over the first 20 minutes.
 
Little Rock made 15 of 27 shots (.555) while knocking down both 3-point attempts and all six free throw tries in the first half. The Trojans outrebounded the Cajuns 17-13 and held a 24-16 scoring advantage in the paint.
 
With the score tied at 18-all with 8:20 to play in the half, Little Rock outscored Louisiana 18-4 over the next seven minutes to build a a 36-22 lead following Hill's putback with less than an minute until intermission. A basket by Woods and 3-point play by Long to close the half made it a 38-27 Trojans lead at the break.
 
Little Rock continues its four-game road swing Thursday at Georgia State in a game that can be seen on ESPN3. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.