LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock (25-3, 15-2 SBC) hosted its second-ever sellout at the Jack Stephens Center in a 72-60 win over UT Arlington (18-9, 9-7 SBC) on Thursday night that clinched a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season championship. The crowd of 5,253 was the second-largest in arena history.
Â
"I want to thank the crowd; that was a lot of fun out there tonight," head coach
Chris Beard said after the win. "When I was fortunate enough to get this job and hired what I think is one of the best coaching staffs in the country, our vision for this was to create an atmosphere here where it's hard to get a ticket. To do that in our first year is really pleasing."
Â
A win on Saturday vs. Texas State would clinch Little Rock's first-ever outright Sun Belt Conference title. Little Rock's last regular season championship came during the 1986-87 season as members of the Trans America Athletic Conference.
Â
Little Rock never trailed, leading by 11 at halftime and growing the margin as wide as 14 with 1:41 to play. The Trojans finished the night shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and making 10 of 19 3-point shots.
Â
Tonight's win ties Little Rock with Xavier for the best record in the nation at 25-3. The Trojans are now 12-0 at home for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
Â
The Trojans are also one win shy of the program record of 26 set in 1986-87.
Â
Josh Hagins led four Little Rock players in double figures with 17 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Lis Shoshi added a season high-matching 13 points.
Mareik Isom scored 11 points on a 3-of-4 effort from 3-point range.
Roger Woods scored 10 points and totaled three steals.
Â
Little Rock took a 36-25 lead into halftime. The Trojans led by as many as 13 in the opening half after holding UT Arlington to 6-of-21 shooting (.286) over the first 20 minutes. Hagins and Woods scored 10 points each in the first half.
Â
UTA opened the second half by hitting six of its first seven shots to trim its deficit to two, 41-39, with 15:51 to play. The Mavs would pull within two again with 14:04 to play, but the Trojans scored six of the next seven points and UTA would get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Â
Little Rock hosts Texas State on Saturday at the JSC. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
Â