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Indians bounce back with victory on roadTODD TRAUBARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE DENTON, Texas -- Arkansas State emerged from the woodshed and beat North Texas 87-75 in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday. The victory, before 1,119 fans at the Super Pit, followed the Indians' embarrassing loss at New Mexico State on Thursday and an air-clearing meeting conducted by Coach Dickey Nutt. "In the last 48 hours we had a face-to-face, staff-to-player, my-way-or-the highway [meeting]," Nutt said. The 92-71 New Mexico State loss was the Indians' worst in conference this year. But after the 48-hour soul-searching session, they beat a struggling but stubborn North Texas team behind solid play off the bench, 21 points from guard Nick Rivers and 17 points and 10 rebounds by center Jason Jennings. "It was just a real fundamental game, nothing spectacular," Jennings said. "We just came out and wanted to play solid and get the win, no matter what it took." Rivers' jumper with 15:10 left in the game made it 53-39 and capped an 18-4 run that put the Indians in command. ASU's biggest lead was 63-43 after a three-pointer by Jon Beck with 11:55 left, but the Mean Green wasn't quite finished. North Texas cut it to 68-58 with two free throws by Chris Davis with 7:43 left, but Jennings was fouled by Bryan Lucas and hit both shots with 7:17 left. The Mean Green got no closer than 10 the rest of the way. "I think we played hard," said North Texas Coach Vic Trilli, whose team has been plagued by injuries this year. "It just came down to players. One time they subbed in five players." The subs were effective too. Beck, a sophomore guard, had a career-high 11 points, and freshman forward Kim Adams scored 12. "Coach said the guys coming off the bench have got to produce a lot more and we came in and produced tonight," Beck said. Lucas led North Texas with 21 points, and Jason Miller scored 19. Rivers said the team listened when Nutt spoke and despite struggling in the first half, ASU tried to focus on the basics: getting the ball in to Jennings and being more deliberate on offense. "We played with a lot more discipline tonight, I thought," Rivers said. "I finally started, and I think the team started, to buy into what he was saying as far as throw it in. I mean, we have a 7-footer [Jennings], that's going to open it up for everybody." With the victory, ASU (16-10, 10-4 Sun Belt East) reclaimed sole possession of second place in the division because New Mexico State beat Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
PCT. -- FG 51.5. FT 72.2. 3-PT 31.6 (Rosser 0-4, Rivers 2-8, Weaver 0-1, Beck 3-5, Sokolewicz 1-1). BL -- 7 (Jennings 5). TO -- 17 (Rivers 4). ST -- 6 (Rivers 2).
PCT. -- FG 41.7. FT 58.3. 3-PT 26.7 (Lucas 0-1, Davis 2-6, Rogers 1-4, White 0-2, McFall 1-2). BL -- 3 (Miller 2). TO -- 12 (Miller 3). ST -- 8 (Davis 3). Halftime -- ASU 33, North Texas 29 Officials -- Kaster, Shortnacy, Ashurst Attendance -- 1,119 SWAC MEN TEXAS SOUTHERN 69, UAPB 67 OT PINE BLUFF -- Rakim Hollis scored 23 points to boost Texas Southern (6-16, 4-8) to an overtime victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-21, 2-12) in Southwestern Athletic Conference action at the HPER Complex in Pine Bluff. Arkansas-Pine Bluff trailed 33-27 at the half, then rallied to a 60-60 tie at the end of regulation. Thaddeus Hackworth led UAPB with 16 points, followed by Jeremy Jefferson with 13 points and 14 rebounds and Michael Vickers with 12 points. Chris Miller added 16 points and nine rebounds for Texas Southern, followed by Akil Butler with 14. SWAC WOMEN TEXAS SOUTHERN 50, UAPB 48 OT PINE BLUFF -- Kanesha Randle scored 22 points to boost Texas Southern (10-11, 4-6) to an overtime victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Southwestern Athletic Conference action at the HPER Complex in Pine Bluff. Arkansas-Pine Bluff led 21-14 at the half before Texas Southern rallied to a 41-41 tie at the end of regulation. Heather Lewis, Cherbritta Scott and Akeshia Robinson each scored eight points for UAPB. Scott also had 10 rebounds.
This article was published on Sunday, February 18, 2001RETURN to main page
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