Gordon gives Trojans big boost

There wasn’t all that much consternation in the University of Arkansas-Little Rock huddle as

Coach Darrell

Walker pulled his team together at the end of regulation.

Not even after the Trojans had frittered away an 11-point lead over the final eight-plus minutes Saturday afternoon.

“Five more minutes. You’ve got to win,” DeAntoni Gordon said when asked about Walker’s message.

UALR did just that, edging Eastern Illinois 81-77 in overtime at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, keeping its hopes of reaching the Ohio Valley Conference tournament alive. D.J. Smith led the Trojans with 20 points — including a pair of free throws and a layup in the final seconds to ice the victory — while Gordon finished with a double-double, grabbing 12 rebounds to go along with his 18 points.

After putting home a second-chance layup just before the under-four media timeout in regulation, a shot that gave UALR a 65-59 lead, Gordon delivered the go-ahead score in overtime, again grabbing an offensive rebound before scoring with 1:51 left and putting the Trojans up 75-74.

Although the Panthers eventually pulled level at 7777 with 41 seconds remaining in overtime, the Trojans never trailed after Gordon’s crucial bucket.

“The most important thing I thought [ Gordon] did tonight was rebounding the basketball,” Walker said. “It took a while and I said congratulations on the double-double because we needed that double-double. He made some big plays down the stretch.”

Among those plays was a charge Gordon drew on Kinyon Hodges with four seconds remaining in overtime. After Smith’s free throws gave UALR (9-20, 5-11 Ohio Valley) a 79-77 lead with 12 seconds left, the Trojans guard got caught gambling trying to make a steal.

Gordon, however, slid over, drew the offensive foul and prevented a potential layup by Eastern Illinois (9-20, 5-11) that could’ve sent things to double overtime.

Despite allowing the Panthers to shoot 48.4% from the field, UALR was relatively pleased with its defense — the hosts limited Eastern Illinois to 27 first-half points.

Now, the Trojans will need it to travel. UALR — by virtue of its win over Morehead State combined with a season split against the Panthers — has the tiebreaker for eighth place and the final spot in the Ohio Valley tournament.

If the Trojans can win at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Lindenwood next week, they’ll play into March.

“These kids, give them their credit,” Walker said. “They could’ve easily folded and they never did.”

Gordon