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Trojans match best turnaroundPETE PERKINSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE UALR's turnaround reached a milestone Saturday night. Senior forward Stan Blackmon scored 26 points to lead the UALR Trojans to an 87-68 victory over the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns before a crowd of 3,985 at Alltel Arena. With the victory, UALR (16-7, 8-4 Sun Belt Conference) tied the Sun Belt record for greatest improvement in victories from one season to the next. "It started with the preseason conditioning and the first day of practice," Blackmon said. "Our coaches give us game plans for every situation, and we go out with a lot of confidence. We're on top of everything." Louisiana Tech set the standard for improvement when it went from 2-25 in 1993-94 to 14-13 in 1994-95. UALR, 4-24 last season, equaled that improvement against Louisiana-Lafayette, with a victory that came as perhaps the best example of the change. In its two games against Louisiana-Lafayette (10-12, 6-6) last season, UALR lost by an average of 20 points. In the teams' last meeting, at Alltel on Feb. 10, 2000, exactly a year from Saturday, Louisiana-Lafayette defeated UALR, 88-62. The Trojans were out of contention early, and trailed 43-29 at halftime. That was a year ago. This time, UALR never trailed, and led 39-24 at halftime. It held Louisiana-Lafayette to 22.2 percent shooting from the field in the first half. "Lafayette is very talented," Moser said. "They're very physical. For our guys to come out and to do what they did defensively in the first half, that was just outstanding. They tackled this like it was a championship game. "These guys have been relentless about believing." "Tonight we had a great, great game plan," senior guard Alan Barksdale said. "Every time they threw it inside, we had two men on them. Then, when they tried to take it back outside, there was no one to throw to. We've been prepared like this all season." Louisiana-Lafayette, the defending Sun Belt Tournament champion, played without its leading scorer and rebounder. Senior forward Lonnie Thomas was in Leesville, La., caring for an ill family member. Consequently, Louisiana-Lafayette was without his 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. "Thomas is a tremendous player, without a doubt," Moser said. "But they have a lot of players. They're loaded, so I'm not taking anything away from our guys. But obviously they missed him." "When you take that many points and rebounds out of your lineup, it hurts," Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Jessie Evans said. "But we have to be able to trust that we can get points from other players inside. We counted on them, and they did not deliver." Louisiana-Lafayette was led by freshman guard Brad Boyd's 15 points. Freshman guard Antoine Landry scored 12. Senior guard Laverne Smith scored 20 for UALR. Junior forward Damion Ninkovic had career highs in points, with 17, and rebounds, with 8. "Ninkovic was having fun tonight," Moser said. "And he can do that. He can score, and he's really giving us a lift off the bench." "I hit my first shot, and then my second, and all of the sudden I was in a little groove," Ninkovic said. "From then on, I just let it go." UALR led 50-30 after Ninkovic's three-point play with 15:41 left in the game. Its largest lead came at 56-31, on Ninkovic's layup with 13:51 to play. Louisiana-Lafayette pulled within 60-47 on a three-pointer by Boyd at 9:41, but would get no closer. "Let's give credit to UALR," Evans said. "We made a move, and had a chance to catch up, but we couldn't do it. "It's clear that UALR is a year older. Those players that went through that awful experience last year, they're a year older. And they're playing extremely well."
Officials -- Vaughn, Stevens, Moore. Attendance -- 3,985.
This article was published on Sunday, February 11, 2001RETURN to main page
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