USA Loses On Layup In Finals Seconds Against UALR
A basket in the finals seconds allows University of Arkansas Little Rock to pull out a victory for the Jags at the Mitchell Center. A UALR layup with 15 seconds left ended a game that saw eight lead changes in the second half.
Most of the first half was played pretty tight with the largest UALR lead being six on two occasions before the Jaguars had a rough end to the first half when UALR scored six consecutive points in the finals 70 seconds to take a 34-25 lead into the locker room for halftime. A total of 25 fowls were committed in the first half with both teams visiting the charity stripe 29 times.
USA, over a two minute stretch in the second half, made their first run to get back into the game with an 8-2 run. But then UALR would extend the lead back out to seven with back-to-back shots in a 25 second span.
The Jags would then have a 7-0 run for gain a one point advantage at 44-43. Then over the next four minutes the lead would change hands five times with each teams advantage being one point until a 3-pointer put UALR up by two.
USA would regain the lead at 51-50 when Brandon Davis would convert three points the old fashioned way by making a basket while being fouled and sinking the free throw.
The trojans would pull out to a 59-55 lead in the waning minutes. The Jags would then score four points to tie the game at 59 over a 1:16 stretch. UALR would then have possession of the ball with 40 seconds left. Then Shane Edwards would lay in a basket with 15 seconds left to seal the game for the trojans at 61-59.
Domonic Tilford would lead USA in scoring with 15 on 6-19 shooting and 3-9 from beyond the arc. DeAndre Coleman scored 12 and pulled down 13 rebounds for a second double-double in the last two games. Brandon Davis rounded out the double digit scorers for USA with 11 and 8 rebounds.
The Trojans Shane Edwards lead all scorers with 23 points on 8-11 shooting, 1-2 from 3-point range and sinking all six free throw attempts. Matt Mouzy with 12 points was the only other trojan in double digits scoring.
USA out rebounded UALR 41-29 but were outshot in the game 41%-36% from the floor, 42%-19% from 3-point range. Both teams sank 14 free throws with USA going to the line 24 times, once more than UALR for the contest.
USA took the court without Ronald Douglas who injured his right shoulder in practice on Wednesday. He is expected to miss at least one week. The 6′ 8″ Douglas has averaged 5.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game and leads the team with 39 blocked shots.
The Jaguars fall to 11-8 (4-4 SBC) for the season, 0-4 at the Mitchell Center this season but are 4-0 on the road in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars will start a two game road swing when they travel to Louisiana-Lafayette for a Saturday match-up with tip-off scheduled fro 7:15pm.
GO Jags!