Upbeat Walker sees light for UALR

Trojans fall to ETSU Buccaneers

University of Arkansas at Little Rock men’s basketball Coach Darrell Walker isn’t known to hold in gripes over his team’s performance after games.

The admittedly old-school coach is, more often than not, sharp during his postgame assessments.

But that wasn’t the case Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, even after the Trojans fell 67-63 to East Tennessee State, a team picked to finish first in the Southern Conference that gave No. 4 Kansas a game at Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 19.

Walker was upbeat, despite UALR (5-4) losing a seven-point lead with under seven minutes to play.

“Overall, we’re coming,” Walker said. “I like what I see from my team. I really do.”

UALR got big production out of sophomore point guard Markquis Nowell and junior guard Ben Coupet Jr. Nowell finished with 20 points, including 4 of 9 from the three-point line, and 6 assists.

Coupet shook off a twogame slump, in which he had combined for 5 points on 2-of-13 shooting, to tally 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting with 6 rebounds.

But in the closing minutes, the Trojans were outgunned by the ETSU Buccaneers (71).

A reverse layup by Nowell gave UALR a 56-49 lead with 6:32 left, but that evaporated less than a minute later after ETSU guard Daivien Williamson completed a four-point play after being fouled while making a three, and guard Patrick Good hit another three-pointer in transition, tying the game 56-56. The Buccaneers finished 11 of 22 from long range.

Coupet got UALR the lead back on a three-point play after he was fouled on a layup.

Williamson and Good each hit another three apiece, with Good’s giving ETSU a 64-61 lead with 2:22 left that it wouldn’t relinquish. The basket came after UALR sophomore forward Kamani Johnson missed the a free throw on the front end of a one-and-one.