UT Arlington beats Georgia State 85-70 in Sun Belt opener
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Kevin Hervey had 17 points and eight rebounds, and UT Arlington beat Georgia State 85-70 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams Wednesday night.
Jalen Jones made three 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Mavericks (10-2), who outrebounded Georgia State 45-29. Kaelon Wilson had 11 points and Erick Neal scored 10.
UT Arlington pulled away with a 15-5 run for a 51-39 advantage and led by no less than nine from there. The Mavericks took the lead for good in the first half with a 14-0 run and Georgia State pulled within 36-34 early in the second half.
UT Arlington coach Scott Cross notched his 163rd career victory, moving to first on the Mavericks' all-time list. Cross began his coaching tenure at UTA in the 2006-07 season.
Jeff Thomas hit seven 3-pointers for 21 points to lead the Panthers (7-3), the defending Sun Belt champion and NCAA tournament representative.
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Little Rock beats South Alabama 69-60 in Sun Belt opener
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Josh Hagins made three 3-pointers and scored 17 points to help Arkansas Little Rock beat South Alabama 69-60 on Wednesday night in a Sun Belt opener for both teams.
Little Rock trailed 11-0 to start the game, but used runs of 14-3 and 13-3 to build a 34-30 lead by halftime.
The Trojans limited South Alabama to 9-of-30 shooting in the second half - including a nine-minute field-goal drought. Shaq Calhoun's dunk with 12:55 left pulled South Alabama to 44-41, but the Jaguars' next basket didn't come until John Brown's 3-pointer with 3:54 remaining.
Little Rock went on a 17-6 run, with scoring from six different players, during South Alabama's drought for a 61-47 lead.
Jalen Jackson added 11 points for Arkansas Little Rock (11-1).
Brown scored 15 points for South Alabama (5-7). Calhoun added 14 and Georgi Boyanov recorded his third straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
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Texas State beats Georgia Southern in Sun Belt opener 80-66
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) Ethan Montalvo scored 19 points and Texas State defeated Georgia Southern 80-66 in a Sun Belt Conference opener Wednesday night.
Montalvo made four 3-pointers in coming up a point shy of his career high. Emani Gant added 16 points and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury 15 for the Bobcats (7-3), who shot 53 percent, including 6 of 13 from 3-point range. Anthony Roberson had 12 rebounds.
The teams were at the free-throw line a lot, with Texas State making 24 of 32 and Georgia Southern (4-7) 28 of 34. However, the Eagles shot only 35 percent from the field and just 4 of 18 from the arc.
Texas State took off to a 20-5 lead on its way to a 40-29 halftime advantage. The lead stayed in double figures with the Bobcats opening the second half by outscoring the Eagles 21-10, including nine points by Montalvo, for the game's largest margin, 22 points.
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Team Effort Sparks Rally in A-State Men’s Basketball Win at Troy
TROY, Ala. (12/30/15) – Arkansas State erased a 12-point second half deficit to rally past Troy 84-81 in the Sun Belt Conference opener Wednesday at Trojans Arena.
The Red Wolves (5-7, 1-0 SBC) were led by double-doubles from Donte Thomas and Anthony Livingston. Thomas poured in 20 points while going 7-for-12 from the charity stripe and added a career-high 10 assists and seven rebounds. Livingston had 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Devin Carter added 15 points and Charles Waters posted a career-high 10 points to round out the A-State scorers in double figures. Wesley Person led Troy (5-7, 0-1 SBC) with 20 points and four other Trojans reached double figures.
“We fought back and took the game on the road and I am really proud of our players,” said A-State head coach John Brady. “I was hoping we could split this road trip and now we have a chance to go to South Alabama and win this road trip. Troy played about as good as you could, but the key was our defensive effort in the second half.”
A-State trailed 62-50 with 12:27 remaining, but the Red Wolves rallied to tie the game at 73-all with 4:09 left. Troy regained a four-point advantage to lead 77-73, but the Red Wolves roared back with a 11-3 run to lead 84-80 with five seconds on the clock. The Red Wolves fouled Person with one second left, but Person only hit the final of three free throws to set the final score at 84-81.
Josh Pierre logged the final 12 minutes off the bench and A-State out-scored Troy 34-19 with him in the game. Pierre drained a 3-pointer to make the deficit 68-63 with 7:00 left and he stepped to the charity stripe with eight seconds left and A-State leading 81-80. Pierre didn’t hit rim on either of the two free throws, scoring the eventual game-winning point as the Red Wolves earned an 83-80 lead.
A-State faced a 10-point deficit much of the second half as the first bucket of the second period gave Troy a 47-37 lead. The Red Wolves went on 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 49-47, but a controversial player control foul on Thomas resulted in a turnover and a technical foul on the Red Wolves bench as the Trojans went on to build the 62-50 advantage.
Troy and A-State traded buckets over the first 13 minutes as neither team led by more than four. The Trojans broke a 25-25 tie with a 13-4 run to lead 38-29 with 3:37 left in the first frame. Troy expanded the lead to 10, 43-33, with 1:42 remaining, but the Red Wolves scored the next four points to get within six. The two sides traded buckets and Troy held a 45-37 lead at the half.
Troy shot 53.8 percent (14-26) in the first half while the Red Wolves were 47.1 percent (16-34). The Trojans entered the game shooting 66.8 percent at the charity stripe on the season, but was 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) in the first period while A-State was 4-for-7 (57.1 percent).
The Red Wolves held Troy to 34.6 percent (9-26) in the second half from the field and the Trojans ended the night shooting 44.2 percent (23-52). A-State shot a blistering 55.6 percent (15-27) in the second half to end the game shooting 50.8 percent (31-61) from the field. Troy ended the night with 40 trips to the charity stripe, but was 16-for-27 (59.3 percent) in the second half to finish 26-of-40 (65.0 percent). A-State was 12-for-18 in the second half to shoot 64 percent (16-for-25) on the night.
A-State returns to action Saturday (Jan. 2) with a 4:05 p.m. tipoff at South Alabama.
Single-game tickets for all remaining 2015-16 A-State home contests, including the Sun Belt Conference home opener against ULM (Jan. 7) can be purchased through the A-State Central Box Office by calling 870-972-2781 or 1-888-ASU-FANS. Tickets are also available for online purchase at AStateRedWolves.com/tickets.
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Second Half Surge Pushes Arkansas State Past Troy in the Sun Belt Opener
TROY, Alabama – Arkansas State outscored Troy 47-36 in the second half en route to an 84-81 win on Wednesday night at Trojan Arena in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both clubs.
Troy (5-7, 0-1 Sun Belt) led by 12 with 12:27 to go in the game before Arkansas State (5-7, 1-0) began to chip away at the deficit. The Red Wolves got within six, 62-56, with 10:24 to play in the game and to within one, 68-67, with 5:51 remaining in the contest.
Arkansas State eventually tied the game at 73 with 4:09 left in the game on a Donte Thomas free throw. After Troy retook the lead, 78-77, Devin Carter made a layup to give the Red Wolves a 79-78 lead with 42 seconds remaining in the game.
Thomas converted on 3-of-4 free throws and Josh Pierre added two more over the final 17 seconds to seal the victory for the Red Wolves. The Trojans didn't make a field goal in the game after a Jeremy Hollimon jumper gave them a 75-73 lead with 3:47 to play.
Five Trojans finished in double figures led by sophomore Wesley Person who scored a game-high 20 points. Holimon added 14 points, while Jordon Varnado had 13 points and nine rebounds. Shawn Hopkins hit on 4-of-5 3-point attempts and chipped in a career-best 12 points and John Walton III finished with 10 points and seven boards.
Troy took a 45-37 lead into the break after shooting a blistering 53.8 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, which included 7-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc. However, the Trojans cooled off in the second half and shot just 34.6 percent from the floor and 2-of-7 from 3-point range.
Arkansas State shot 50 percent from the floor for the game, but shot 55 percent in the second half. Thomas led the Red Wolves with 20 points and Anthony Livingston tallied a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The Red Wolves won the battle down low as they outscored the Trojans 42-14 in the paint and 15-5 in second-chance points.
The Trojans return to the court on Saturday at 4:15 to take on Little Rock (11-1, 1-0) at Trojan Arena.