Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trojans knock off Sun Belt leaders
A victory didn’t seem achievable hours before it happened.
Without a bench deep enough to provide breaks, without two starting guards and without much room for error, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s chance of upsetting Sun Belt Conference-leading Texas-Arlington seemed real slim.
Yet, somehow, in a defensive slugfest that created mundane offense at times, the Trojans manufactured their most significant victory of the season, 56-52, Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
“This was a big win for us,” said UALR Coach Darrell Walker. “That’s the number one team in the league. I told my guys that we’re a pretty good basketball team ourselves. That showed tonight.”
None of Texas-Arlington’s starters stood taller than 6-5. Shooting 39.9 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from the three-point line,
both the worst in the Sun Belt Conference, the Mavericks aren’t glamorous on paper.
The way to defeat the Mavericks (12-13, 8-4 Sun Belt) is to pound the ball inside offensively and force them to shoot from the outside.
UALR (10-15, 5-7) scored 28 points in the paint and received 21 combined points from reserve sophomore forward Kris Bankston and freshman starting center Nikola Maric. The Mavericks went 6 for 25 from beyond the three-point line and shot 19 for 59 (32.2 percent) from the field.
Done and done. “Man, I don’t say much, I’m not a big rah-rah guy, but those guys followed the game plan to the T,” Walker said.
The Trojans held a lead for 9:59 total minutes of Saturday’s victory, their third in a row and longest winning streak since a five-game effort in the 2016-17 season.
Thursday’s lead changed
six total times and the score was tied on five different occasions. In the first half, Texas-Arlington had its way with the Trojans.
The Mavericks were in control for more than 18 minutes of the half, leading by as many as nine points with 11:46 remaining.
In the final 11:46, the Trojans went on an 18-8 run and stole a 26-25 lead at halftime on a reverse dunk from Bankston at the buzzer.
To make things more interesting, the Trojans’ two starting guards, redshirt juniors Rayjon Tucker and Deondre Burns, were 0 for 8 combined from the field and had 1 point after 20 minutes.
Usual starting guards freshman Markquis Nowell (ankle) and sophomore Jaizec Lottie (hand) were each sidelined with injuries. The Trojans used eight total players against the Sun Belt’s best, including one minute from sophomore forward Damir Hadzic, who was used only when foul trouble was a minor issue in the first half.
UALR began the second half on a quick 9-3 run to give
itself some temporary separation before Texas-Arlington came barrelling back.
A pair of free throws from Tucker with 13:50 remaining in the second pushed UALR’s lead to 10 points, its largest of the game. The Mavericks responded with a 10-0 run.
Neither team led by more than three points until the end, when UALR’s victory became clinched in a way tough to script.
Senior forward Dani Koljanin, usually an infrequently used reserve, made a streaking layup with 43 seconds remaining to give the Trojans a 54-52 lead. A long offensive possession from Texas-Arlington ended with a rushed miss from junior guard Edric Dennis and seven seconds on the clock after a UALR rebound.
Burns, an unlikely hero who made his first start of the season after being purposefully assigned by Walker as UALR’s primary weapon off the bench all season, connected on two free throws with 7.2 seconds to make it a fourpoint, two-possession game.
“Game’s over,” Burns said.