UALR puts clamp on UCA

PETE PERKINS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

UALR and Central Arkansas last played 18 years ago. That game went to overtime.
This one didn't.
A 25-point, first-half run by UALR settled it Tuesday night, and the Trojans walked out of Alltel Arena in North Little Rock with a 75-47 victory over the NCAA Division II Central Arkansas Bears.
"The thing I was focused on the most was the start," UALR Coach Porter Moser said. "I was worried about complacency. It's something that can set in very easily on a team. When you play an athletic team like Central Arkansas, you don't want to give them any confidence. I was very pleased with our intensity early. That's what I wanted. I didn't want them to have any confidence."
It wasn't like this in 1982.
Central Arkansas led at halftime at Trojan Fieldhouse. UALR struggled to a tie in regulation and held on for a 74-72 victory.
This time, before a crowd of 2,657, UALR took a 39-15 halftime lead.
Central Arkansas hit one of its first 20 shots. After a 12-footer by sophomore guard Marcus Keaton gave Central Arkansas a 2-0 lead, the Bears went 11:35 without scoring.
By then, UALR (2-0) was up 27-2.
"We had to make an early statement," freshman center Darius Eason said. "We can't let them come out and get started on our court. We had to come with it early."
"We were a little intimidated by the situation," Central Arkansas Coach Charles Hervey said. "We missed a couple of shots and started pressing."
Senior forward Stan Blackmon led UALR with 16 points off the bench. Eason had 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Mark Green scored 13.
"Stan again came off the bench and gave us an immediate spark," Moser said. "He played full speed. You're seeing what he can do when he goes that hard, and I appreciate his effort."
"I just wanted to play hard," Blackmon said. "That's what I did."
Freshman forward Landon Trusty led Central Arkansas with 14 points. Keaton scored 12.
A three-pointer by Green gave UALR a 48-17 lead with 16:54 left.
Central Arkansas' most significant run, 11-5, cut UALR's lead to 53-30 on sophomore center Nathan Wilson's 10-footer with 9:52 left.
But a three-point play by Eason, a three-pointer by sophomore guard Alex Finger and a one-handed slam dunk by Blackmon gave UALR a 61-30 lead at 7:30.
"We were down when they had that little run," Finger said. "The good thing was, we came back and turned the tide."
Moser is a man of themes. "Turn the tide" joins "The little things," his theme for UALR's 53-43 victory at Northwestern on Saturday.
"Every game, I don't care who you play, there are ups and downs," Moser said. "And one of the things you try to do when you're on a down is change the momentum. We talk about that. Turn the tide. When things are down, we say, 'Turn the tide.' With youth, sometimes that's hard to do. So I was pleased."
UALR's effort came in response to a run Moser said he predicted.
"They made a run in the second half, and I knew they would," Moser said. "Shoot, they scored 116 points last week, so I knew they could score.
"They're a scrappy group. They played hard and they didn't quit. The could've easily quit, but they didn't."
Central Arkansas opened the season with a 116-65 victory over Arkansas Baptist on Friday. It lost 73-53 to East Central Oklahoma on Saturday.
The victory over Central Arkansas was UALR's most lopsided since it defeated Texas-Pan American 77-43 in 1996-97.
UALR began last season with a 93-64 loss to Oklahoma State at Alltel, and a 91-84 loss at Bowling Green (Ohio).
"This feels 100 percent better than it did last year," Green said. "Everyone is for each other. That's the big thing this year that wasn't there last year. Everyone is for each other. It's all about the team."

This article was published on Wednesday, November 22, 2000

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