UALR secures winning season

BECK CROSS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

PINE BLUFF -- Because of numerous conflicts with each school's conference schedule, school officials from Arkansas-Pine Bluff and UALR had to work hard to find a date to reschedule a game postponed from December.
But the delay didn't help UAPB find a way to win. The Golden Lions, which earned their only victory of the season on Jan. 3, put up a fight for almost a half but were no match for UALR in the post, succumbing 94-77 before a crowd of 2,506 at the Convention Center.
The game was scheduled for Dec. 12 but was postponed after two officials failed to arrive from Texas because of icy road conditions.
With the victory, the Trojans (15-7) guaranteed a winning season for first-year Coach Porter Moser. UALR will face Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at Alltel Arena.
"Having a winning season means a lot," said Moser, who was an assistant last season as the Trojans finished 4-24 under Sidney Moncrief, now an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. "These young guys believed. Although it does guarantee us a winning season, we're not done yet."
UALR dominated UAPB in rebounding 44-26. Laverne Smith led the Trojans with 24 points, while Stan Blackmon maintained his season average with 18, in addition to nine rebounds.
"We're just glad to get this one behind us," Moser said. "We had to play two nights in a row but that will be good preparation for the [Sun Belt Conference] tournament.
"I was happy to get in here with a tough atmosphere and get a win."
Less than 24 hours after its 81-67 victory over New Orleans, UALR trailed early. Michael Vickers hit a pair of 15-foot jumpers to help the Golden Lions take a 6-5 advantage with 18:17 left in the first half.
The Trojans answered with a 12-0 run in 2:49. Nick Zachery came off the bench and hit consecutive three-pointers while Blackmon had a dunk in transition to help UALR take a 17-6 lead with 15:06 left.
Alan Barksdale hit the second of his three first-half three-pointers to pad the Trojans' advantage to 23-9 with 13:13 remaining before play was delayed approximately five minutes because of a scoreboard malfunction.
After play resumed, UAPB threatened to make a game of it, launching a 12-5 run. The Lions pulled within 28-21 with 7:48 left on a driving dunk by Jeremy Jefferson, who finished with 25 points.
UAPB closed within 35-25 with 3:04 remaining but was outscored 11-5 to end the half. In the final 2:01, Smith hit two three-pointers.
UALR finished the half shooting 8 of 16 from three-point range and held a 22-13 edge in rebounding.
"Anytime you hit that many threes, it really opens up the paint," Moser said.
Blackmon scored back-to-back baskets in the post to extend UALR's lead to 50-30 with 18:53 remaining. The Trojans led by as many as 26 before emptying their bench.
"Sizewise, they beat us down low," UAPB Coach Harold Blevins said. "They took advantage of our size and when we lost [Michael] Vickers and [Antwan] Emsweller to fouls, we had to go to smaller people and that made it that much harder.
"You have to applaud the coach for going to his strength. I'm sure UALR is happy with the win but I was proud of how our kids kept competing."

This article was published on Friday, February 9, 2001

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