Barksdale's 21 keep North Texas on run

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

DENTON, Texas -- UALR turned North Texas outside-in.
Senior guard Alan Barksdale scored 21 points, all in the first half, and senior forward Stan Blackmon scored 19, including 17 in the second half, to lead the Trojans to an 83-66 victory over the North Texas Mean Green at the North Texas Coliseum.
Barksdale hit five first-half three-pointers. Blackmon's second-half points included eight on layups or slam dunks and three on free throws after he was fouled beneath the basket.
"Alan is just an unselfish player," UALR Coach Porter Moser said. "He had 21 in the first half, and you'd think he'd want to force a bunch on shots in the second. But he had their attention, and it opened up everything."
"You know they were watching Barksdale in the second half," Blackmon said. "They didn't in the first, and if you leave him open, he'll hit it. They were watching him, and they weren't doubling me anymore."
Blackmon also had the advantage of rest. He picked up two fouls in the first six minutes of the first half and sat the remainder.
"Stan came in rested, and we just tried to go inside, inside, inside," Barksdale said. "They just couldn't stop him in the post."
North Texas sophomore guard Chris Davis guarded Barksdale in the first half.
Junior guard Kenneth Mangrum switched to Barksdale in the second.
"So that just opened up [junior guard] Laverne Smith," Barksdale said. "And then all of our post players started scoring. I didn't have to score at all."
Smith scored 12 points.
"Without Barksdale in the first half, we're probably up by 10," Mangrum said. "We just didn't get on our assignments like we should've, and Barksdale was hot."
"Barksdale's a great shooter," North Texas Coach Vic Trilli said. "He's probably the best shooter in [the Sun Belt Conference], and we just did a terrible job of covering him."
Barksdale showed his first flashes with a three-pointer and a layup on consecutive possessions to give UALR (13-7, 5-4 ) a 21-17 lead with 8:48 left in the first half.
A minute later, Barksdale took a pass from sophomore point guard Alex Finger, then passed through the lane to senior guard Laverne Smith.
Smith's layup, followed by a fast-break layup by Barksdale off a pass from Finger, gave UALR a 27-19 lead with 7:37 left in the half.
After a timeout, North Texas (5-13, 1-7) scored eight consecutive points, and took a 28-27 lead on freshman forward Will Smith's free throw at 4:41.
UALR turned back to Barksdale, who hit a three-pointer and a 19-footer on consecutive possessions to give the Trojans a 32-28 lead with 3:52 to play.
Later, Barksdale hit three-pointers on three of UALR's final four possessions.
His shot with five seconds left in the half gave UALR a 43-36 lead.
"Those three-pointers at the end of the first half really hurt," North Texas sophomore forward Jason Miller said. "That just took the heart out of us."
Blackmon kept it out, scoring 11 or UALR's first 13 points of the second half.
His 8-footer from the baseline gave UALR a 56-36 lead with 15:58 to play.
North Texas never again got closer than 15 points.
"We just did all the things that Coach Moser talks about," Blackmon said. "We set picks to get people open. We passed up good shots for better shots. We really go into a rhythm."
Blackmon wasn't the only player open inside.
Junior forward Damion Ninkovic, freshman forward Co Willis and freshman centers Jake Yancey and Darius Eason combined to score 22 points.
"The [center spot] was a three-headed monster for us, with Nink, Yancey and Eason," Moser said. "And then Willis scored, so those were some pretty good minutes for us."
Barksdale also was given credit for stopping Davis, who started with an average of 17 points a game, and 19.9 points against Sun Belt teams.
Davis scored five points against the Trojans.
"Barksdale kept us in it offensively," Moser said. "But where Alan is making the next step as a complete player is that he held Davis to five points. He did it on both ends of the court."

This article was published on Friday, February 2, 2001

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