The final minutes of games have been interesting for Little Rock. A little too interesting for head coach
Darrell Walker. The Trojans saw a late lead evaporate at Southeast Missouri State, but the Trojans (11-7, 5-2) held on for a last-second win.
On Saturday at Tennessee Tech, the Trojans protected the lead down the stretch and left the Eblen Center with a semi-comfortable 77-71 win.
The Trojans led by eight with 17 seconds left but after a three-pointer by Matthew Sells were forced to make free throws to secure the win.
Jordan Jefferson hit a pair following Sells's three and after another Eagles' three-pointer by Daniel Egbuniwe,
Johnathan Lawson hit a set to ice the game. The Trojans were 11-of-14 for the game from the line.
Ante Beljan led the Trojans with 22 points and seven rebounds.
Mwani Wilkinson added 12 points and 10 boards. Lawson scored 12 points and dished out three assists.
Tuongthach Gatkek chipped in 11 points and 4 assists. Jefferson hadn't played since a Nov. 27 win against Maryland-Eastern Shore after enduring a back injury. He also added 11 points and made all four of his free throws.
TTU led 35-34 at halftime, but a quick spurt that was capped off by an easy bucket in the paint, by Beljan the Trojans led 43-35 with 17:16 to play in the game. However, just a few minutes later, the Golden Eagles (9-10, 4-4) had taken a one-point lead.
The Trojans took it back on a Gatkek hoop at the 15:15 mark, and Little Rock never let go of the advantage the rest of the game. The lead swelled to 10 with just under seven minutes to play on a Wilkinson jumper.
The Trojans kept TTU at arm's length, and when the Golden Eagles cut the lead to six with 4:31 to play, Little Rock responded with a Gatkek hoop with 3:14 to play.
The lead jumped back to 10 on a Jefferson made jumper with 2:33 left. TTU made one final push and scored six straight points to cut the advantage to 69-65 on two Sells free throws.
However, Gatkek, who had missed the front end of a one-and-one earlier sank both free throws with 26 seconds left to move the lead to six.
The Trojans out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 38-28. Little Rock, who only committed 10 turnovers, shot 50.8% from the field and 50% (4-8) from the three-point line.
Kyle Layton scored 17 points to lead Tennessee Tech, who shot 41.2% from the field. TTU made eight three-pointers in the first half and made 7 in the second to finish 15-of-30 from beyond the arc.
Little Rock plays at Western Illinois on Thursday.
