Blackmon, UALR top New Orleans

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

One down, four to go.
Senior forward Stan Blackmon scored 26 points to help lead the UALR Trojans to an 81-67 victory over the New Orleans Privateers before a crowd of 2,895 at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock on Wednesday night.
It was the start of a four-game Sun Belt Conference homestand for the Trojans against the league's best.
It also was the first of three games in four nights for the Trojans, offering what UALR Coach Porter Moser said was "a tournament atmosphere."
After UALR's makeup game tonight against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, the Trojans will play host to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
South Alabama will play UALR (14-7, 7-4) at Alltel on Wednesday. Western Kentucky arrives Feb. 17.
South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette are tied for first in the Sun Belt's West Division. New Orleans (12-10, 6-5) dropped to third with its loss to the Trojans. Western Kentucky leads the East Division, and has the best overall record in the conference.
Tonight's game in Pine Bluff was rescheduled from Dec. 12, when two officials were ice-bound in Texas, and failed to show.
"Coach told us approach this week like it's a tournament," Blackmon said. "We got the job done against New Orleans, and now it's time to start getting ready for UAPB."
"I'm looking at it like, 'Hey, we just advanced to Round 2,' " Moser said. "We'll do whatever it takes to win tomorrow, and then go on to Saturday. Then next week will be a new week."
UALR led by 10 points in the first half, but New Orleans pulled to within 37-35 with 18:02 left in the game, after three-pointers on consecutive possessions by senior guard Rickie Marlowe.
But UALR used a combination of full- and half-court presses to force New Orleans turnovers, and led 54-42 after a steal by Blackmon turned into a fast-break layup by senior guard Laverne Smith at 12:56.
Blackmon finished with six steals.
"Stan did a great job," Moser said. "He's the backline of our defense, and he anticipates so well. Those steals were a key part."
Smith's basket started a 14-4 run that gave UALR a 66-46 lead with 7:18 to play.
"Basketball is a game of runs, and you need to be able to withstand the other team's runs," New Orleans Coach Joey Stiebing said. "We weren't able to do that."
New Orleans would get no closer than 71-61, after a layup by Marlowe at 3:08.

NEW ORLEANS	M	FG	FT	O-R	PF	A	PTS
Adams	39	4-11	2-2	1-3	1	1	13
Wilson	20	1-1	6-6	3-4	5	0	8
Marlowe	21	5-12	0-0	2-5	4	1	14
Ellis	32	3-6	6-11	3-9	4	1	12
Walker	34	6-9	0-1	2-7	1	3	15
Smith	10	0-1	0-0	1-2	1	1	0
Sanders	12	1-2	3-4	0-1	2	0	5
Little	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Buggs	8	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Rackley-Mann	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Meredith	22	0-6	0-1	0-0	2	2	0
Team				3-3
Totals	200	20-48	17-25	15-34	21	9	67

PCT. -- FG -- .417. FT -- .680. 3-PT -- 10-24, .417 -- (Adams 3-7, Marlowe 4-9, Walker 3-4, Meredith 0-4). BL -- 3 (Sanders 2). TO -- 21 (Adams 8). ST -- 4 (Adams 3).

UALR	M	FG	FT	O-R	PF	A	PTS
Smith	36	2-8	8-8	0-0	3	1	12
Finger	32	2-2	0-0	0-6	0	3	5
Blackmon	33	8-13	10-11	3-5	1	2	26
Barksdale	30	6-10	0-0	0-4	3	2	16
Yancey	22	3-4	0-0	1-2	4	3	6
Zachery	17	2-5	2-2	0-2	2	3	7
Mears	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Willis	9	1-1	0-0	0-1	1	1	2
Eason	6	0-0	1-2	0-1	2	1	1
Ninkovic	12	1-4	4-4	1-1	5	0	6
Team				0-1
Totals	200	25-47	25-27	5-23	21	16	81

PCT. -- FG -- .532. FT -- .926. 3-PT -- 6-15, .400. -- (Smith 0-2, Finger 1-1, Blackmon 0-1, Barksdale 4-6, Zachery 1-4, Ninkovic 0-1). BL -- 4 (Finger, Blackmon, Yancey, Willis). TO -- 10 (Zachery 3). ST -- 10 (Blackmon 6). Halftime -- UALR 35, New Orleans 27
Technical fouls -- None.
Officials -- Allen, Lusk, Vaughn.
Attendance -- 2,895.

This article was published on Thursday, February 8, 2001

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