LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock's veterans showed their experience, helping the Trojans pull away late from Southwest Baptist to notch an 84-68 exhibition victory at the Jack Stephens Center.
The returning trio of
Andre Jones,
Oliver Black and
Ben Marcus combined for 61 of Little Rock's 84 points on the night, led by 25 from Jones who bookended his night throwing down alley-oop dunks. Black registered a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds to complement his three blocks while Marcus added 18 points of his own with seven rebounds, going a perfect eight-for-eight from the free throw line.
Little Rock dominated in the paint, outscoring Southwest Baptist 54-22 and shot 44.9 percent from the field while hitting 90.5 percent of its foul shots. The Trojans struggled from beyond the three-point arc, however, hitting just three of their 18 attempts, but committed just seven turnovers on the night.
Using a fast-paced tempo, Little Rock came out running early, building a 10-3 lead in the opening two and a half minutes, including an alley-oop dunk for Jones from Black in the first 40 seconds. But Southwest Baptist's three-point shooting kept the Bearcats close as SBU hit six of its first nine from beyond the arc.
The Trojans were unable to pull away from the Bearcats throughout the opening 20 minutes as their biggest lead was just seven, seeing it trimmed to one possession on three separate occasions. But Little Rock never surrendered the lead, taking a 40-34 lead into the half.
In the second, Little Rock's size and athleticism helped it finally separate itself from Southwest Baptist. A three from Jones at the 18:19 mark gave the Trojans its first double-digit lead of the night at 47-37. A Bearcat run pulled SBU within five at 51-46 with 11:22 remaining, but that would be as close as the Bearcats came to pulling the upset as Little Rock outscored SBU 33-22 over the final 11 minutes to put the game away.
Anthony Black and
Cameron Corcoran each added five points in their first appearances in Trojan uniforms with
Jaizec Lottie and
Kris Bankston each adding four points with Bankston adding seven rebounds and a pair of blocks to his stat line. Corcoran led the team in assists with four as four different Trojans each registered a steal on the night.
With its first live action under its belt, Little Rock now prepares for the real thing, getting ready for the 2017-18 season opener against Ouachita Baptist on Saturday, November 11. Opening tip against the Tigers is set for 3 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center.
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