UALR wins opener, gives Sun Belt bragging rights

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

EVANSTON, Ill. -- There were no big stars Saturday night, just a bunch of little things that added to UALR's victory over the Big Ten.
Perhaps it was the bottom of the Big Ten, but the Big Ten nonetheless.
Senior forward Stan Blackmon came off the bench to score 13 points, tops among nine UALR players who played 16 or more minutes, leading the Trojans to a 53-43 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats before a crowd of 1,506 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"I'm just looking at this as a big road win," UALR Coach Porter Moser said. "It is so hard to win on the road, I don't care who you're playing. We played a Big 10 team, on the road, and found a way to win."
It was Moser's first victory as a head coach at any level.
Northwestern, 5-25 last season, was picked to finish last in the Big Ten in preseason polls. UALR, 4-24 last season, was picked for a similar placement in the Sun Belt Conference.
"They may be the worst team in the Big 10, but people have said we're the worst team in the Sun Belt," senior forward Stan Blackmon said. "This is a good win for us. Northwestern is still a Big 10 school. We just outhustled them and outplayed them."
If there was a category for "little things" on NCAA box scores, Blackmon might've led the way.
When Blackmon slid on his knees into the Northwestern bench in an unsuccessful, first-half turnover bid, Moser and the Trojans' bench stood and cheered, even as Northwestern set its offense.
"Stan didn't get that one, but did you see how contagious that was?" Moser said. "That's what happens when someone plays with the kind of effort and passion that Blackmon showed tonight."
"Everyone did a great job doing the little things," Blackmon said. "We dove for loose balls. We set screens. We took charges. All those little things. That's what Coach Moser has been talking about all year. We're starting to get the message."
That was evident from the start.
Nearly 15 minutes were gone before Northwestern's offense broke the 10-point barrier.
Freshman guard Jitim Young hit two free throws at 5:12 to put Northwestern within 16-11.
Each turnover on Northwestern's next three possessions turned into UALR points.
After sophomore guard Mark Green drew a charge in the lane, senior guard Laverne Smith hit a 19-footer to give UALR an 18-11 lead.
A steal by sophomore guard Alex Finger led to freshman center Darius Eason's 5-foot hook from the lane.
And Young's walk resulted in a layup by freshman forward Co Willis that pushed UALR's lead to 22-11 with 2:19 left in the first half.
"A lot of what went wrong for us tonight was due to Little Rock," Northwestern sophomore Ben Johnson said. "But a lot of it was what we did wrong. We couldn't make a shot."
Northwestern shot 29.1 percent from the field. It made 6 of 30 three-point attempts.
"Nothing out there looked good to me," Northwestern Coach Bill Carmody said. "We couldn't establish anything inside. We didn't come in here thinking we were going to take nothing but threes. That really wasn't in the game plan."
Northwestern made a run, but it came too late.
UALR's 38-23 lead at 6:58 was cut to 46-40 on sophomore forward Winston Blake's layup with :50 to play.
"Coach told us they'd make a run, and they did," Smith said. "But we were prepared."
"You see that a lot," Carmody said. "It's easy to make shots at the end of the game when you're out of it. That's what I told them. 'Make them when it's 16 to 12. Don't wait until your down by 10 and don't really have a chance.' A lot of bad guys make shots then. You can't go by that run. We were lucky to get 35 points."
Johnson led Northwestern with 16 points. Blake scored 12.
Smith scored 13 for the Trojans.
"We didn't have any stars tonight," Smith said. "This was nothing but a collective team effort."
UALR hit 14 of 16 free-throw attempts in final 1:44. Blackmon hit 5 of 6 to help stop Northwestern's rally.
"I'm kind of at a loss for words right now," Blackmon said. "I'm trying not to get too excited. We have a lot of games ahead of us. But we don't want to be the worst team in the Sun Belt. We want to win the Sun Belt, and this was a great start for us."

This article was published on Sunday, November 19, 2000

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