Little Rock cruises past Georgia Southern 80-67
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Marcus Johnson Jr. matched a career-high with seven 3-pointers and finished with 24 points, and Little Rock cruised to an 80-67 victory over Georgia Southern on Thursday night.
The Trojans (18-2, 8-1 Sun Belt Conference) have won eight of their last nine games and are off to their best conference start.
Johnson was 8 of 13 from the floor. Roger Woods had 15 points, and Josh Hagins added 10 points and six assists for Little Rock, which shot 51 percent from the floor.
Tookie Brown scored 17 points and Mike Hughes had 16 to lead Georgia Southern (7-12, 3-6).
Little Rock had a double-digit lead midway through the first half and built a 41-28 halftime lead.
Johnson scored 12 points in the second half, and his 3-pointer stretched the Trojans' lead to 74-59 with four minutes left.
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UL Monroe tops UT Arlington 99-88
MONROE, La. (AP) Majok Deng scored 29 points with five blocked shots and UL Monroe topped UT Arlington 99-88 on Thursday night.
Deng was 9 of 16 from the field and 7 of 12 from beyond the arc. The Warhawks (9-11, 5-4 Sun Belt) shot 54 percent overall and 15 of 30 on 3-point attempts. Justin Robinson scored 24 points with seven rebounds, while Nick Coppola had 12 points and 11 assists.
UT Arlington (14-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) was led by Erick Neal with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists - his first triple-double and all career highs. Jalen Jones scored 18 points and Kennedy Eubanks had 17.
ULM led 52-47 early in the second half when Deng went off, hitting five consecutive 3-pointers, which pushed the lead to 11.
The Mavericks cut it to four with 9:21 left, but Deng responded with another trey, then ULM made 10 of 12 free throws in the last 1:40 to seal it.
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UL Lafayette runs away from Texas State 80-54
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Shawn Long scored 19 points with 14 rebounds and UL Lafayette ran away from Texas State 80-54 on Thursday night.
Long made 7 of 11 from the field and the Ragin' Cajuns (10-8, 6-3 Sun Belt) shot 51.9 percent. Devonta Walker scored 16 points and Jay Wright added 14 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. Lafayette outrebounded Texas State 44-18.
Ojai Black led the Bobcats (9-8, 3-5) with 14 points, while Kavin Gilder-Tilbury added 13.
Wright drilled a 3 on the game's first possession and Lafayette got off to an 11-4 lead. The Cajuns scored the final six in the half - all by Walker - and led 35-21 at the break.
Texas State trimmed its deficit to eight after a pair from the line by K.J. Malveau with 10:23 to go. Lafayette responded with a 10-point spurt - started by another 3-pointer from Wright - to put it out of reach.
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Arkansas State beats Georgia State 75-69 in overtime
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) Anthony Livingston scored 22 points, including six in overtime, and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Arkansas State beat Georgia State 75-69 Thursday night.
Livingston and Devin Carter, who finished with 15 points, combined for 13 of the Red Wolves' 18 points in overtime with Livingston's bucket with 35 seconds left making it 71-64.
Charles Waters added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Sean Gardner also scored 13 points for Arkansas State (10-10, 6-3 Sun Belt).
Frederic Dure and Waters scored in the final 17 seconds of regulation to give Arkansas State a 57-56 lead, its first since early in the first half, but Isaiah Williams tied it by making 1 of 2 free throws with seven seconds left.
Jeremy Hollowell scored 15 points to lead the Panthers (12-6, 5-4) before fouling out with over seven minutes left. Kevin Ware added 14 points and Markus Crider 11 while T.J. Shipes had 11 rebounds.
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Appalachian State slips past Troy 75-71
TROY, Ala. (AP) Frank Eaves scored 18 points, hitting all seven of his shots from the foul line, to lift Appalachian State past Troy for a 75-71 win Thursday night.
Jacob Lawson added 13 points and Griffin Kinney hauled in 10 rebounds to go with nine points for Appalachian State (6-14, 4-5 Sun Belt), which shot 48 percent from the field and hit 8 of 14 from long range.
Troy (6-15, 1-9) erased an eight-point deficit late in the second half to tie the game at 68 on Jordon Varnado's tip-in bucket. Eaves then put the Mountaineers back on top for good with a 3-point play with 1:37 left. A pair of free throws from Eaves and Ronshad Shabazz down the stretch sealed the win.
Wesley Person scored 22 points for Troy, John Walton III added 18 and got 11 rebounds. Varnado finished with 10 points.