LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to get to within one in the waning seconds, but the rally attempt came up just short as the Trojans fell to Tennessee Tech 77-75 at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans tied a season-high with five players finishing in double figures, led by
CJ White nearly notching a triple-double with 11 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and tying a career-high with eight assists while making his first start of the season. He was complemented by 16 points from
DeAntoni Gordon with six rebounds.
Isaiah Palermo set a season-high with 15 points off the bench, going 6-of-9 with nine of his points coming in the second half.
D.J. Smith finished with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half with three big three pointers, adding five assists and three rebounds.
Jordan Jefferson also reached the double figure club with 10 points while
Ante Beljan added eight points and four boards.
Little Rock shot 47.0% for the game but again had a hard time finding its touch from beyond the arc, going just 6-for-22 from three point range and 7-of-11 from the line. That was countered by Tennessee Tech shooting 56.0% for the game, making 28-of-50, while going 10-of-19 from three point range (52.6%), including 6-of-8 from three point range in the second half.
Little Rock held a 34-30 rebounding edge, including 13 to six on the offensive glass, leading to a 10-3 edge in second chance points. The Trojans took advantage of transition basketball, outscoring the Golden Eagles 21-6 on fast breaks, with a 34-30 edge in points in the paint.
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, Little Rock jumped out to the early 7-2 lead, led by a pair of layups from Beljan and a three from Jefferson. But Tennessee Tech knocked down three three pointers to slowly build a four-point lead at 22-18 with just under eight minutes remaining in the opening half.
Little Rock trimmed the lead to two on three separate occasions, aided by a Tennessee Tech technical foul, with the last of which coming off three-straight baskets for Gordon at 28-26 with 5:08 to play. But the Golden Eagles responded with a 7-2 run to push its advantage to 35-28 with under three minutes to play.
Both teams hit a scoring drought over the final three minutes of play, making just one combined shot as Tennessee Tech took a 37-30 lead into halftime. Gordon and Palermo led the Trojans with six points in the first half, shooting 43.3% from the floor with White adding five points and seven rebounds. But Tennessee Tech hit 51.7% from the floor, benefittiing from seven Little Rock turnovers.
Tennessee Tech used the long ball to start the second half, hitting threes on three-straight possessions to extend its lead to 12 at 46-34 at the 17:06 mark. But back-to-back threes from Smith trimmed the deficit to six at 46-40 with just under 16 minutes to play.
The Golden Eagles continued to be efficient from three point range, making six in the first 12 minutes to extend their lead to 12 at 64-52 with 7:47 remaining. But it sparked a 7-0 run for Little Rock, including a transition three from Jefferson, cutting the lead to five at 64-59 at the 6:07 mark.
The Trojan run reached 11-2 behind a layup from Gordon and a tough jumper from Palermo, cutting the Golden Eagle lead to three at 66-63 with 4:58 left. Little Rock would get as close as two, thanks to an and-one from Palermo, and had the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead trailing 74-72 with under 20 seconds to go. But White couldn't get a foul call on a drive to the basket, resulting in two free throws for the Golden Eagles.
Smith hit a big three with 2.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to one at 76-75, but Tennessee Tech hit one of two free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining and Jefferson's heave from mid court fell short as the Golden Eagles held off Little Rock in the team's first-ever meeting.
The Trojans were playing short handed with just eight scholarship players dressing due to injuries to
Chris Walker and
Jovan Stulic while
Myron Gardner and
Nigel John were unable to play due to illness.
Jaylen Sebree led Tennessee Tech with 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half on 6-of-9 shooting, with Brett Thompson adding 15 points and Jayvis Harvey finishing with 14.
Little Rock now prepares for the second meeting of the year with Tennessee State Saturday. The Tigers roared past the Trojans 94-69 in Nashville on December 31 in Little Rock's first OVC road game in program history as Tennessee State will make its second trip to the Jack Stephens Center. Opening tip against the Tigers is set for 3:30 p.m.
#LittleRocksTeam
