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UALR's 3-point plan fall shortPETE PERKINSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Even four three-pointers in the final minute were not enough. UALR needed one more. With South Alabama clinging to a three-point lead, UALR senior forward Stan Blackmon's full-court pass for junior forward Damion Ninkovic was deflected away with two seconds left Wednesday night. UALR's plan called for a catch by Ninkovic, and a pass to senior guard Laverne Smith for the final shot. But the play was broken up by freshman forward Emmett Thomas and senior guard Brett Gavitt, and the South Alabama Jaguars held on for an 84-81 victory over UALR before a crowd of 2,612 at Alltel Arena. "There at the end, that was going to take a miracle shot," South Alabama Coach Bob Weltlich said. "But they had made enough of them already. I was pretty concerned." The play was set up by 3 three-pointers from sophomore guard Nick Zachery, and one by Smith, after UALR trailed 75-65 with 51 seconds to play. Smith's shot, with 13 seconds left, cut South Alabama's lead to 82-79. "After we saw what they were doing, all we wanted to do was the guard the guy in the middle," Weltlich said. "Our kids made a pretty good play on that." UALR was within 83-81 when sophomore guard Alex Finger hit 2 of 3 free-throw attempts with four seconds to play. South Alabama's final margin was set with Thomas' free throw at two seconds. "Their comeback was terrific," Weltlich said. "But it wasn't like we didn't do what we were supposed to do. They just didn't do what they were supposed to do, which is miss some shots. One of those [Zachery] took, if he makes that at halftime, he wins a car. "We had people there. They just went up and made shots." Zachery said the Trojans were following the instructions of Coach Porter Moser. "He told us, 'If you have an open look, take it.' "We had our heads down for too long. We have to play with same intensity, the whole game, that we played with the last few minutes." South Alabama (18-8, 9-4) hit 13 of 16 free throws in the final 1:24 to hold off the Trojans. Senior guard Ravonte Dantzler led South Alabama with 24 points. Senior center Virgil Stanescu and Thomas scored 19. "South Alabama made championship plays," Moser said. "They hit shots. They hit free throws. They were patient. They were the regular-season champs last year, and they played like champions. "Dantzler and Stanescu showed why they were first-team, all-league last year. That's why they're going to be first-team, all-league this year. They're very good players, and they're winners." South Alabama took its first lead since 11:56 of the first half on Stanescu's three-point play with 16:01 left in the game. By the 10:50 mark, the South Alabama's lead was 58-47 after another layup by Stanescu. South Alabama led 61-51 after Stanescu's 15-footer at 8:15, but UALR made a run back to contention. Senior guard Alan Barksdale's only points of the game came on a three-pointer, which senior forward Stan Blackmon followed with a layup on UALR's next possession to put the Trojans within 63-58 with 7:11 to play. UALR (16-8, 8-5) was within 67-62 after two free throws by Blackmon at 5:31. But South Alabama held UALR scoreless through two possessions, and took a 71-62 lead on senior guard Ravonte Dantzler's 13-footer from the lane with 3:13 to play. "We got our heads down during that run, and we just didn't respond," Barksdale said. "At the end, we finally acted like we had a chance to win." "It just shows you how far we've come," Moser said. "We expected to win this game. We're playing the defending champions, and we expected to win. "We lost that belief for a six-minute stretch. But in the end, we started thinking again that we were going to win. But it was too late. You can't go six minutes not believing you're going to win against a team like this."
PCT. -- FG -- .542. FT -- .758. 3-PT. -- 7-18, .389 -- (Williams 1-3, Dantzler 5-8, Gravitt 1-2, Thomas 0-5). BL -- 2 (Stanescu, Thomas). TO -- 13 (Gravitt 3). ST -- 4 (Williams, Dantzler, Bollman, Stanescu).
PCT. -- FG -- .529. FT -- .643. 3-PT -- 9-14, .643. -- (Smith 4-6, Zachery 4-5, Barksdale 1-2, Blackmon 0-1). BL -- 2 (Yancey, Finger). TO -- 14 (Smith 3, Finger 3, Yancey 3). ST -- 3 (Smith, Finger, Blackmon). Halftime -- UALR 31, South Alabama 28. Technical fouls -- UALR bench. Officials -- Shortnacy, Jacobs, Self. Attendance -- 2,612. NEW ORLEANS 103, NORTH TEXAS 77 NEW ORLEANS -- Tory Walker tied a school record with seven three-point goals in a career-high 30-point performance and New Orleans (14-10, 8-5 Sun Belt Conference) set another with 15 shots from long range in a victory over North Texas (4-20, 1-12). New Orleans, whose previous single-game record was 11, made 21 of 31 field goal attempts (67.7 percent) en route to a 55-34 halftime lead, then held off North Texas 48-43 in the second half. Clyde Ellis added 15 points for the Privateers, who also got 10 points from Curtis Wilson. Chris Davis led North Texas with 28 points and Jason Miller had 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. NORTH TEXAS (4-20) Lucas 1-3 0-0 2, W. Smith 2-7 1-2 5, Miller 10-19 2-3 22, Davis 11-20 2-2 28, Richardson 0-7 2-4 2, Rogers 4-8 4-5 14, McKenzie 0-0 0-0 0, Ritchie 0-0 0-0 0, White 1-3 0-0 2, McFall 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 29-69 13-18 77. NEW ORLEANS (14-10) Wilson 4-9 2-2 10, Walker 11-15 1-1 30, Ellis 6-12 3-4 15, Adams 3-6 0-0 7, Marlowe 3-5 0-0 9, K. Smith 1-2 0-1 2, Ashaolu 2-3 3-4 7, Hamilton 0-1 0-0 0, Sanders 0-0 2-2 2, Wilson 2-3 0-0 6, Meliet 0-2 0-0 0, Little 1-2 2-2 5, Buggs 0-0 2-2 2, Rackley-Mann 1-2 3-4 5, Meredith 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 35-64 18-22 103. Halftime--New Orleans 55, North Texas 34. 3-Point goals--North Texas 6-13 (Davis 4-6, Rogers 2-5, White 0-1, McFall 0-1), New Orleans 15-24 (Walker 7-10, Adams 1-4, Marlowe 3-4, Wilson 2-2, Meliet 0-2, Little 1-1, Meredith 1-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--North Texas 39 (Miller 10), New Orleans 33 (Ellis 8). Assists--North Texas 20 (Rogers 6), New Orleans 23 (Adams 8). Total fouls--North Texas 16, New Orleans 15. Attendance--410.
This article was published on Thursday, February 15, 2001RETURN to main page
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