Louisiana cruises to 69-52 win over Little Rock
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Justin Miller scored 15 points and Bryce Washington got his third-straight double-double to lead Louisiana to a 69-52 win over Little Rock on Monday night.
Frank Bartley IV added 14 points with 6-of-8 shooting for Louisiana (11-4, 1-1 Sun Belt), which shot 59.4 percent in the first half and finished 57 percent overall to pick up its first conference win of the season. Washington finished with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to get his 11th double-double of the season.
Louisiana dominated in the opening half, taking a 44-22 advantage into the break. Washington hit back-to-back buckets to open the second half and while Little Rock (10-5, 1-1) narrowed the gap over the final 20 minutes, the lead was never challenged, even after Miller fouled out with 4:47 left.
Little Rock, the defending conference champion, was led by Kemy Osse's 15 points.
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Hervey leads UTA past Appalachian State, 84-69
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Kevin Hervey picked up his 15th career double-double and UTA earned its 11th straight victory with an 84-69 win over Appalachian State in a Sun Belt Conference contest Monday night.
Hervey scored 21 points and pulled down a dozen rebounds to lead four Mavericks into double-figure scoring.
UTA (12-3, 2-0) led by just four points at intermission but pushed its advantage to 11 points when Hervey buried a 3-pointer with 14:33 left to make it 51-40.
Jalen Jones added 13 points, Erick Neal 12 and Kaelon Wilson pitched in 11 points off the Mavericks' bench. UTA was 29 of 67 from the field (43.3 percent) and made just 3 of 15 from deep, but was 23 of 32 from the line.
Freshman Patrick Good came off the Appalachian State bench to knock down seven 3-pointers and score 21 points. Isaac Johnson scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Mountaineers (5-8, 0-2).
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Carter's 20 leads Arkansas State over ULM 76-45
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) Devin Carter scored 20 points with four 3-pointers, Tamas Bruce scored career highs with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and Arkansas State never trailed in beating ULM 76-45 on Monday night to win their second straight.
Donte Thomas scored 12 points and made nine assists, C.J. Foster had a career-high 10 boards, and Arkansas State (11-4, 2-0 Sun Belt) outscored the Warhawks 34-20 in the paint.
Carter's first 3-pointer put the Red Wolves up 13-8 and Arkansas State led 32-26 at halftime. Carter scored 17 points in the half and Arkansas State made 10 of 13 free throws.
The Red Wolves opened the second half with an 11-2 run and led by as many as 31 points.
Arkansas State held Louisiana-Monroe to 18 of 57 field goals (31.6 percent) and outrebounded them 45-32, including 12-8 on offensive boards for 10 second-chance points.
Travis Munnings scored 19 with four 3-pointers for the Warhawks (6-9, 0-2), who have lost two straight.
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South Alabama comes back to beat Troy 76-75
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Ken Williams scored 18 points and South Alabama overcame a five-point deficit in the final two minutes to beat Troy 76-75 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams on Monday night.
A Jordon Varnado layup gave Troy a 75-70 lead with 1:57 left, but South Alabama quickly rallied. Herb McGee hit two free throws and layup on back-to-back possessions to cut it to 75-74. Then Shaq Calhoun followed with two free throws of his own to give the Jaguars (8-6, 1-0) the lead for good with 55 seconds left.
Nick Stover finished with 15 points and Josh Ajayi added 14 for South Alabama, which won despite being outshot 50.9 percent to 42.6 percent and out rebounded 40-27.
Devon Walker and Kevin Baker led Troy (8-7, 1-1) with 14 points apiece. The Trojans turned the ball over 19 times, including four times in the final 1:29.
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Coastal Carolina slips past Texas State 60-53
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) Colton Ray-St Cyr scored 15 points, including the go-ahead 3-point play late in the second half, to lead Coastal Carolina to a 60-53 win over Texas State on Monday night.
Jaylen Shaw added 12 points and Demario Beck had nine rebounds to go with eight points for Coastal Carolina (6-9, 1-1 Sun Belt), which shot 50 percent from the field and controlled the boards 37-25.
The Chanticleers went cold in the first half, falling behind 17-10 during an eight-minute scoring drought, but fought back to trail by just three at the break.
The second half included six lead changes and Coastal Carolina edged on top for good with a 3-point play from Ray-St Cyr that made it 51-50 with 3:32 left, then pulled away at the free throw line in the final minute.
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury led Texas State (8-6, 1-1) with 18 points.