LITTLE ROCK – Four Trojans scored in double figures, led by a double-double from
Myron Gardner and a career-high 16 points from
Nigel John, as Little Rock pulled away over the final 10 minutes to defeat Arkansas Baptist 71-60 at the Jack Stephens Center.
The win opens up the 18th season of basketball at the Jack as Little Rock improves to 16-2 in the building in home openers and 41-3 since making the transition to Division I. Head coach
Darrell Walker improved to 5-0 in home openers at the helm of the Trojans.
John's 16 points came on 4-of-9 shooting as he also went 8-for-10 at the free throw line, pulling down seven rebounds and helping the Trojans to a 52-39 edge on the glass.
DeAntoni Gordon added 14 points and six rebounds while
Chris Walker also set a new career high with 12 points, knocking down a game-high three three-pointers.
Gardner registered his double-double in the first half, sitting at 11 points and 11 rebounds at halftime before finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
CJ White also had a solid night for Little Rock, flirting with a double-double by finishing with eight points and eight rebounds with three assists.
For the game, Little Rock shot just 36.5% from the floor, hitting 5-of-16 from three-point range (31.3%) and 20-of-29 (69.0%) from the free throw line. The Trojans shot better in the second half, making 46.9% of their shots, compared to 25.8% in the opening 20 minutes.
After committing just seven turnovers at Southern Illinois Monday, Little Rock turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and 17 times for the game, but limited the Buffaloes to just 14 points off those giveaways. But the Trojans finished with 15 assists, compared to just four for Arkansas Baptist, while forcing 14 Buffalo turnovers of their own.
D.J. Smith finished with six points and a team-high six rebounds with
Isaiah Palermo rounding out the scoring with four points while dishing out three assists.
Both Little Rock and Arkansas Baptist struggled from the floor in the early going with both teams shooting under 30% through the first 10 minutes of the game. The Trojans slowly built a five-point lead at 15-10 behind a three from Gardner, only to see the Buffaloes answer back to to tie the game at 15-15 at the midway point.
Little Rock couldn't shake Arkansas Baptist, building an eight-point advantage at 27-19 with 2:42 remaining in the opening half and again at 30-22 with just under two minutes to go, but Arkansas Baptist outscored the Trojans over the final minute and a half, hitting a three from just inside the center court line as time expired to cut the lead to 31-27 at halftime.
Gardner led Little Rock with a first half double-double, scoring 11 points with 11 rebounds, but the Trojans and Buffaloes were an identical 8-for-31 (25.8%) in the opening 20 minutes. 14 Trojan turnovers plagued Little Rock and negated a dominating 33-16 rebounding advantage.
Little Rock would build a nine-point lead early in the second half behind an 8-1 run, taking a 39-30 lead off a Gordon layup with 17:13 remaining. But as they did in the first half, the Buffaloes responded once again, trimming the lead to three at 41-38 with 13:16 remaining in the game.
Leading 47-45 at the midway point of the second half, Little Rock used a 7-0 run behind back-to-back layups from Gordon and a jumper from White, building a nine-point advantage at 54-45 with 7:27 remaining to start to gain control. The Buffaloes closed the gap to five at 54-49, but Little Rock would rattle off an 11-0 run to build a 65-49 advantage with 3:55 to play to put the game away.
With the win, coach Walker improves his overall record to 98-84, improving to 15-6 at the Jack Stephens Center against non-conference opponents. The Trojans also improved to 9-8 against Natural State foes under Walker, improving to 2-0 all-time against Arkansas Baptist.
Little Rock will now make the short trip to Conway for the first of two battles in this year's Blue Cross Blue Shield Governor's I-40 Showdown against Central Arkansas. Opening tip against the Bears is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, November 14 at the Farris Center.
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