Youth gets victory as UALR holds on

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- It had earmarks of a 1960s Italian western.
Porter Moser, the 32-year-old upstart, in a desert town on the Mexican border to face 38-year veteran Lou Henson, 68, the boss at New Mexico State.
All that was missing were 10-gallon hats.
Thursday night, before a crowd of 6,403 at the Pan American Center, the new kid won. But it was a battle to the finish.
Moser's UALR Trojans led by as many as eight points in the final minute, but they had to hold on for a 64-60 victory over the Aggies.
"We got a lot of key performances from a lot of different people tonight," Moser said.
Throughout, Moser dug deep for weapons, and found some unexpected ones.
First, it was senior guard Laverne Smith, who scored 15 first-half points, though he had missed two days of practice with a sore shooting shoulder.
Then it was freshman point guard Nick Zachery for UALR (8-3, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference), in his first college game, scoring nine points as a backup to sophomore starter Alex Finger.
Senior guard Alan Barksdale came through with five points on consecutive possessions, after New Mexico State had pulled within 48-44 with 6:00 left.
And senior forward Stan Blackmon scored 20 points in the second half, and 26 for the game.
"That's just the way our team is," Smith said. "We have a lot of players who can come through when we need them."
"They really do have some good players," Henson said. "I just can't believe they only won four games last year. Coach Moser has really done a good job because they're a good team now. They can beat any team in this league. He's doing a great job with those kids."
Henson should be a good judge.
He's been a college head coach since he took over at Hardin-Simmons in 1962. He's had two stops at New Mexico State (4-9, 1-1), wrapped around 21 seasons at Illinois.
Henson's been to 19 NCAA Tournaments and two Final Fours.
When Moser got his first job as a college assistant, at Creighton in 1990, Henson was starting his 29th season as a head coach.
Moser was 22.
"Hey, I grew up in Illinois when Coach Henson was running the show there," Moser said. "He's such a class act. I could never hope to win nearly as many games as he's won, but if I could just carry myself with the kind of class he's shown, that's all I could ask."
UALR's Smith said the Trojans knew they were up against a disciplined, well-coached team.
"They didn't try to do anything they couldn't do," he said.
The game was tight from the start.
UALR scored first, but there were nine lead changes before either team led by as many as three points.
New Mexico State took a 13-10 lead after a layup by senior forward Daveeno Hines with 8:35 left.
Smith's three-pointer tied the score on UALR's next possession.
New Mexico State again led by three after Hines' layup at 3:22.
But the Aggies would go 0 for 4 from the field, with three turnovers, to end the half.
Zachery's first three-pointer tied the score at 22 with 3:08 left.
A layup by Smith off a steal by freshman center Jake Yancey, and two free throws from Blackmon left UALR with a 26-22 halftime lead.
"Laverne is a great offensive weapon," Moser said. "He was iced up all day yesterday, and we didn't know what to expect. But he came out with a real bounce, and he helped carry us."

This article was published on Friday, January 5, 2001

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