Second Half Surge Propels Trojans Past Eagles in Sun Belt Opener, 78-66

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock used a 23-1 run over the final 10 minutes of regulation, including 19-straight over a six-minute span, to turn a 10-point deficit into an impressive 78-66 victory over Georgia Southern in its Sun Belt opener at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Little Rock was led by season-highs from both Nikola Maric and CJ White, scoring 24 and 15, respectively. White scored all 15 of his points in the second half, tying his career-high, while Maric was 9-for-14 from the floor with a team-high eight rebounds. The duo finished 12-for-15 from the free throw line, including 8-of-10 down the stretch, pushing the Trojans to the win.
 
Two other Trojans finished in double figures as Marko Lukic extended his double-digit streak to eight-straight games, scoring 15 points with six rebounds and a team-high four assists. Isaiah Palermo added 12 points with six boards as well with a pair of steals.
 
Myron Gardner made his Little Rock debut, finishing with seven points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 27 minutes of action. Kevin Osawe was the only other Trojan to score in the game, adding five points with a pair of rebounds and two assists off the bench.
 
For the game, Little Rock connected on 43.9% of its shots, recovering from a sluggish first half. The Trojans again struggled from beyond the arc, making just five of their 19 attempts, but knocked them down at crucial times to spark the second half run.
 
Little Rock held a 38-37 edge in rebounding and forced 15 Georgia Southern turnovers. The Trojans also made the Eagles pay at the line, making 23-of-32 compared to 8-of-17 for Georgia Southern.
 
After a Georgia Southern three to open the scoring, Little Rock responded with five-straight of its own to take the 5-3 lead early. The two teams exchanged baskets as a Palermo jumper gave the Trojans the 11-9 lead, but Little Rock then struggled to get shots to fall, making just one of its next 10 as the Eagles extended their lead to 15-11 at the 12:00 mark.
 
Little Rock re-found its groove with baskets from Palermo, Lukic and Maric on back-to-back-to-back possessions, reclaiming the lead at 17-15 at the 9:31 mark. But another shooting slump came back to bite the Trojans, who missed their next six shots as Georgia Southern reclaimed the lead at 24-18 off a 9-1 run spanning four and a half minutes.
 
Maric helped Little Rock keep pace with Georgia Southern, scoring 10-straight points for the Trojans to pull Little Rock within one at 26-25 with 3:26 left in the opening half. But Georgia Southern took advantage of five Little Rock turnovers over the final two and a half minutes, outscoring the Trojans 10-2 to take the 36-27 lead into halftime.
 
Through the opening 20 minutes, Little Rock shot 33.3% from the floor and was just 1-for-9 from three point range (11.1%) and were outrebounded by Georgia Southern 25-18. Maric led all players with 14 points in the first half.
 
Both Little Rock and Georgia Southern came out firing early in the second half as the Trojans hit five of their first seven shots, narrowing the deficit to four at 40-36 with 16:34 off a steal and breakaway dunk from Gardner. But the Eagles would hit seven shots in a row on the other end, extending their lead to 10 at 54-44 with 13:16 remaining.
 
Georgia Southern would once again lead by 10 at 60-50 with 9:16 remaining before Little Rock began its game-deciding spurt, using a 23-1 run to take the lead at 73-61 with 2:15 remaining. The Trojans scored 19 unanswered during that span, aided by three threes from White, to take its largest lead of the game with just over a minute to go and notching the much-needed win in its conference opener.
 
White scored all 15 of his points during the final 10 minutes of regulation as the Trojans shot 58.3% from the floor in the second half, outscoring Georgia Southern 51-30.
 
Head coach Darrell Walker now improves to 3-1 during his Little Rock career in Sun Belt openers as the Trojans narrowed the all-time series with Georgia Southern to a 19-17 Eagle lead. The Trojans also improved to 12-7 all-time against the Eagles in Little Rock.
 
With Saturday's game against Georgia State canceled due to COVID issues with the Panthers, Little Rock now gets ready to embark on a three-game road trip, beginning with a trip south to Louisiana. The Trojans first travel to Monroe to take on ULM Thursday, January 6, with the opening tip against the Warhawks set for 6:30 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
 
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