Tech maintains hold over UALR

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

RUSTON, La. -- UALR had never gone this deeply into a season without a loss of more than 10 points.
The new record will stand at 17 games.
A recent trend of homecourt blowouts for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs over the UALR Trojans continued Saturday night in front of 1,659 at Thomas Assembly Center, as Tech followed sophomore forward Antonio Meeking's game highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds to a 64-47 victory over UALR.
Tech twice held leads of 10 or more points in the first half.
After Tech (12-8, 5-3 Sun Belt Conference) scored the first six points of the game, its first 11-point advantage came on junior guard Marco Cole's free throws gave Tech a 21-10 lead at 8:54.
UALR (11-7, 4-4) gradually closed the gap, and pulled within 24-21 on senior forward Stan Blackmon's rebound layup with 3:04 to play.
With two fouls on Blackmon and sophomore point guard Alex Finger, and Tech's lead at 28-23 with 1:56 left, UALR Coach Porter Moser turned to his bench to complete the half.
Tech rolled to the break, scoring on all but the last of its final six possessions.
Meeking hit a layup with 37 seconds left to give Tech a 34-23 lead.
Before Meeking's shot fell, sophomore guard Nick Zachery fouled freshman forward Zach Johnson beneath the goal.
Johnson hit 1 of 2 from the free-throw line to put Tech's lead at 35-23.
"We got down 6-0 right off the bat," Moser said. "And then the rest of the half, or the next 16 minutes, we actually outscored them by three points. Then Stan and Alex get their second fouls, I take them out, and it goes to 12-down, just like that.
"Like I told our subs, 'You go in a game, and in two minutes the deficit goes from five to 12, that's a problem.' "
UALR's bench scored six points, all from junior forward Damion Ninkovic.
UALR has not won at Thomas since 1996, when a 68-foot halftime buzzer-beater from Derek Fisher, now a Los Angeles Lakers point guard, highlighted the Trojans' 80-63 victory.
Five blowouts for Tech have followed, including a 96-62 victory in 1998 -- the most lopsided loss, at the time, of former UALR and Alabama coach Wimp Sanderson's career.
Tech has won by an average of 18.4 points over the five-game span.
"We didn't look at that," Louisiana Tech Coach Keith Richard said. "We were just trying to win the game. We don't think about any previous games, or a game three days from now.
"The thing is, UALR has just played so consistently well this year, win or lose. We'd like to develop the same sort of consistency. But you have to give us credit tonight, playing this well against a team that good. We haven't been known as a defensive team, but that was a good defensive effort."
UALR shot 31.1 percent from the field.
"We missed some good shots," Moser said. "We took good shots out of our offense. They were just in and out."
Senior guard Alan Barksdale missed his first four three-point attempts, and completed the game 1 of 7 from three-point range.
"The first shot, in and out," Barksdale said. "The second shot from the corner, in and out. A shot from the top, in and out. They just didn't go in. I just didn't make the shot. You can say whatever, but I just didn't make the shot."
Again, Richard credited his defense.
"Barksdale is a great shooter," Richard said. "And, yeah, with some of the looks he had, you don't expect him to miss those. But I was glad he only had seven shots. I think, overall, we did a good job of keeping him from looks."
Blackmon's layup with 7:50 left put UALR as close as it would get in the second half, at 48-40.
"I thought that would give us a little momentum," Blackmon said. "But after that, we'd come down and not make a play, and the whole team just seemed to go down. I don't think some of our guys thought we were in it."
UALR next plays Monday at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock against Middle Tennessee State.
Last season, UALR lost 16 games by more than 10 points. Blackmon said Saturday's loss was a reminder.
"This was a review of last year," Blackmon said. "I'm ready to play right now. We might practice when we get home tonight, and I wouldn't mind. I hope we do. Our season can't end like this."

UALR M FG FT O-R PF A PTS
Blackmon 33 6-11 6-11 3-9 2 0 18
Smith 34 5-15 1-3 1-4 1 2 12
Finger 36 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 2 4
Barksdale 33 2-12 0-0 0-4 3 1 5
Yancey 14 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 2
Willis 8 0-2 0-0 0-2 4 0 0
Zachery 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Mears 8 0-0 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Neal 6 0-2 0-1 1-1 1 0 0
Eason 7 0-1 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Ninkovic 15 3-8 0-0 2-4 2 0 6
Team 0-1
Totals 200 19-61 7-15 7-29 25 6 47
PCT. -- FG .311. FT .467. 3-PT. .118 (Blackmon 0-1, Smith 1-5, Finger 0-1, Barksdale 1-7, Zachery 0-1, Ninkovic 0-2). BL -- 1 (Blackmon). TO -- 7 (Blackmon 2). ST -- 6 (Finger 2).

LOUISIANA TECH M FG FT O-R PF A PTS
Cole 22 1-5 6-7 1-5 5 0 8
Davis 30 6-9 1-2 0-6 1 0 14
Meeking 36 6-11 5-11 6-12 2 2 17
Henderson 39 1-6 5-5 2-10 3 6 7
Lewis 37 0-1 4-4 1-5 2 6 4
Fowler 3 3-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Stamps 7 0-0 0-2 0-2 0 0 0
Martin 7 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Johnson 18 2-7 4-6 0-0 0 0 8
Team 2-2
Totals 200 19-43 25-37 10-44 15 14 64
PCT. -- FG .442. FT .676. 3-PT. 111. (Cole 0-1, Davis 1-2, Henderson 0-4, Lewis 0-1, Martin 0-1). BL -- 5 (Meeking 3). TO -- 17 (Henderson 6). ST -- 2 (Lewis, Stamps).
Halftime -- Louisiana Tech 35, UALR 23.
Technical fouls -- none
Officials -- Shortnacy, Arinello, Hampton.
Attendance -- 1,659.

This article was published on Sunday, January 28, 2001

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