Trojans hang on for victory over Red Wolves

Arkansas State University junior guard Marquis Eaton sprinted up the floor with the final seconds melting off the clock Saturday afternoon, needing a three-pointer to force overtime with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The largest crowd all season at the Jack Stephens Center stood nervously.

Eaton was the last person the UALR faithful in the crowd of 3,522 wanted to see attempt a game-tying shot. Until then, Eaton had missed only one of his seven attempts from deep.

But UALR’s 6-10, 250-pound sophomore forward Nikola Maric moved in and raised both hands to force Eaton left. He flung a three-pointer with his left hand just before the buzzer, but the ball failed to catch any part of the rim or backboard as the Trojans hung on for a 90-87 victory over their instate rivals.

“I was just trying to [draw] contact, basically,” said Eaton, who finished with a season-high 25 points to lead all scorers. “The way they [guarded me], it was hard to get one off.”

After Eaton’s miss, UALR players sprinted to the Trojans’ student section and were mobbed. For the second time this season, UALR Coach Darrell Walker — who beat ASU for the first time in his third try — approached the scorer’s table and grabbed the public-address microphone.

“Come back and see us,” he shouted. “You guys were great tonight. Unbelievably great tonight. Come back and see us.”

The Trojans (18-7, 12-2 Sun Belt) scored in the 90s for the third consecutive game and captured their seventh consecutive victory, the program’s longest winning streak since it began the 2015-16 season 11-0.

Despite clawing back from an 11-point halftime deficit — eventually tying the game 7575 on Caleb Fields’ layup with 4:24 remaining — ASU (15-10, 7-7) dropped its third consecutive game. The Red Wolves, known for their second-half comebacks this season, outshot UALR 57% to 39% over the final 20 minutes, but they couldn’t make enough plays late.

UALR went on a 6-0 run after Fields tied the game as ASU missed a three, turned the ball over and missed a layup. UALR sophomore point guard Markquis Nowell drilled a three to put UALR up 84-77 with 1:51 left, but Eaton answered with two consecutive three-pointers of his own to cut the deficit to one.