Central Arkansas Shines with 64-50 Win over Nicholls on Scottie Pippen Night
Central Arkansas 64, Nicholls 50
CONWAY, Ark. - With their most famous alumnus and a record crowd in attendance at the Farris Center on Wednesday night, Central Arkansas notched its first Southland Conference win of the season, beating Nicholls 64-50.
Central Arkansas retired the No. 33 jersey of NBA legend Scottie Pippen at halftime and at that point, the Bears (7-11, 1-3 Southland) were cruising along with a 31-18 lead on the strength of 13 points by junior forward Tadre Sheppard. Sheppard finished with his fifth double-double of the season, 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Pippen, a two-time NAIA All-American in 1986-87, gave a pregame talk to the Bears and it apparently got their attention. Central Arkansas shot a season-high 54.5 percent in the first half and 53.8 percent for the game. The Bears' defense held the Colonels' leading scorers Anatoly Bose and Fred Hunter to six and three points, respectively.
"There were a lot of things to make you smile on one night," said UCA coach Rand Chappell, who won his 300th game at four-year universities. "I was proud of our guys. They (the Colonels) were playing good basketball coming in here and we knew we had our hands full.
"Obviously the crowd was electric, magical, all those kind of things. Maybe we have to get Scottie to come every night. We'd like to have everybody come every night but if he's the key guy, we have to get him to come every night.
"There were people waiting outside an hour and half before the game. When our guys came out to warm us the crowd was already huge. I thought particularly in the first four or five minutes, our guys were just moving at a different speed. The enthusiasm in the building just made them a lot quicker."
Sheppard opened the game with a rousing dunk that sent the Bears out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:30. The lead reached as much as 17 points twice in the first half as the Colonels shot 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
"Our defense was excellent," Chappell said. "We talked about defense from two different angles. One was intensity and one was discipline. I thought we graded out very high in both areas all the way to the last few minutes.
"That was an awesome job on Bose, and Chris Poellnitz had about 90 percent of that. In the locker room, I had everyone give Chris a little standing ovation for that effort because I thought he did a great defensive job. Bose is just a good international player who can shoot the ball, moves well without the ball and just does a lot of things. Chris was very disciplined and took him out of the game."
The Colonels (6-11, 2-2 Southland) never got closer than 12 points in the second half.
Behind Sheppard, senior forward Mitch Rueter had 14 points and Poellnitz added 11. The only negative for the Bears was a 52-percent effort from the free-throw line (20-of-38). Sheppard, who was averaging only seven points in Central Arkansas' three conference games, made 9-of-11 from the field and had seven offensive rebounds among his 12.
"Tadre played with a lot of energy tonight," Chappell said. "Obviously he can jump higher than anyone in the gym on almost any night. He was flying to the rim and opened the game with a big dunk. That's the way you want to start a game."
Maurice Foster led Nicholls with 14 points off the bench, while Chris Iles added 10.
Central Arkansas continues its home stand on Saturday, hosting McNeese State at 4 p.m. Nicholls plays at Northwestern State Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on the Southland Conference Television Network. That game will also be available on ESPN Full Court.
McNeese State 71, Southeastern Louisiana 67
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Patrick Richard and Stephan Martin combined for 39 points as McNeese State snapped a five-game losing streak with a 71-67 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday.
Richard pumped in 20 points, 15 of them in the first half, while Martin added 19, 14 in the second half.
The victory sent McNeese's record to 6-11 overall and the Cowboys jumped back into the Southland Conference East Division race with their first league victory in three outings. Southeastern went to 10-7 and to 2-2 in the conference.
"It was just a great team effort," Cowboy coach Dave Simmons said following the contest. "We've been there for quite a few games but have not been able to finish them out like we did tonight.
"I thought that in the final five minutes of the game our defense was a dominate factor."
McNeese trailed for most of the game and it was a 3-point show by Richard that put the Cowboys into the lead for the first time at 67-65 with 2:34 left. Southeastern held a 40-28 halftime lead but the Cowboys outscored them 43-27 in that second period.
The Lions, who were led in scoring by Rodney Jones with 14 points, were up 65-56 with 5:04 left but the Cowboys made the next 11 points to take the lead. McNeese wound up getting a pair of free throws by Martin and a game ending dunk by Elbryan Neal to close out the contest.
The rebound factor also came up high for the Cowboys in the second half. They trailed the Lions 18-12 at the half and wound up with a 33-30 rebound edge. P.J. Alawoya came off the bench to lead the game with 11 caroms.
The Cowboys missed the scoring of team leader Diego Kapelan in the game as he was held scoreless, missing on six field goal tries.
McNeese State will travel to Central Arkansas Saturday for a 4 p.m. tipoff while Southeastern Louisiana plays at Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 6 p.m.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 81, Lamar 64
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Kevin Palmer led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a season-high 32 points as the Islanders remained unbeaten in Southland Conference play with an 81-64 win over Lamar on Stripes Court at the American Bank Center.
With the win, the Islanders move to 9-8 on the season and have the best record in the Southland Conference at 4-0. Lamar drops to 10-9 on the year with the loss evening its league record at 2-2.
In the first half, the Islanders rode the trio of Palmer, Justin Reynolds and Demond Watt. The threesome combined for 38 of the team's 42 first half points. A&M-Corpus Christi led 42-32 at the intermission. Aside from Palmer's 32, Reynolds added 18 and Watt 11
Trailing 2-0 early, the Islanders went on a 15-4 run to lead 15-6 five minutes into the game. Reynolds had six of his 13 first half points early in the run, while Watt had a pair of baskets to push A&M-Corpus Christi ahead 10-4.
After a basket by Coy Custer, Palmer showed his explosiveness with five consecutive points. Palmer began with a 3-point basket and finished a fast-break opportunity with a dunk after a steal by Terence Jones.
Palmer extended the lead to 11 points, 19-8, with a jumper, before Lamar responded with a 12-3 run. The Cardinal spurt pulled the visitors to within two, 22-20.
Stan Brown had five points during the run with Lawrence Nwevo adding four. A steal and jumper by Kendrick Harris cut the lead to a basket with 7:29 remaining in the half. A three-point play by Reynolds accounted for the only points by the Islanders during the run.
A&M-Corpus Christi seized control of the game with a 20-7 run spurred by 13 points and a pair of steals by Palmer, who had 17 points by the intermission.
Attacking the paint, the first six points of the run for A&M-Corpus Christi were layups followed by a pair of Watt free throws. Horace Bond and LaMarr Drake followed with the only points in the half not by the trio of Watt, Palmer and Reynolds.
Palmer sandwiched a pair of threes around a trey by Anthony Miles to cap the run. The senior's second long distance shot extended the Islander lead to 42-27 with two minutes left in the half.
Harris closed the half with five straight points to make it a 10-point game at the break.
In the second half, Lamar would pull to within six points multiple times but could get no closer. Three times in the first seven minutes the Cardinals pulled to within half a dozen, but each time the Islanders extended the lead back to nine with a three-point basket. Palmer hit a two of the treys with the third coming from Jones.
Nabors, who had all 19 of his points in the second half, would cut the lead to six twice more, but could not get the Cardinals over the hump. The last time was at 63-57 with 8:42 left.
A&M-Corpus Christi responded with an 18-7 run to finish the game.
The Islanders finished the game with a season-low 12 turnovers, while forcing 16. They had 10 steals led by Palmer with five. A&M-Corpus Christi, which was out-shot 53.1 percent to 48.4 percent, also won the battle on the boards. The Islanders out-rebounded the Cardinals 33-28 as all five A&M-Corpus Christi starters had five. Lamar, which entered the game tops in the Southland in rebounding, was led by Nabors with nine.
Charlie Harper joined Nabors in double digits for the visitors with 11 points.
The Islanders hit the road for their next two games with Saturday's game at UTSA at 7 p.m. Lamar will play host to Texas State Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
Sam Houston State 95, Texas State 64
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Corey Allmond scored 22 points and Autuan Bootle pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds to lead Sam Houston State to a 95-64 Southland Conference victory over Texas State Wednesday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Ryan White led Texas State with 15 points.
Sam Houston trailed by six points, 20-14, with 9:35 left in the first half, but finished the period with a 29-11 run to take a 43-31 lead at intermission. The Bearkats outscored Texas State 52-33 in the second half, leading by as 36 points.
The victory was the third straight for Sam Houston, now 11-5 for the year and 3-0 in Southland action. Texas State dropped to 8-10 for the season and 2-2 in league play.
Ashton Mitchell added 19 and Gilberto Clavell and Preston Brown each scored 12 for Sam Houston. A' Moute Bidias and Tony Bishop each scored 12 for Texas State.
Sam Houston State returns to the hardwood Saturday with a 7 p.m. tip at UT Arlington. Texas State plays at Lamar. That game will tipoff at 7:05 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin 72, UT Arlington 65
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Junior forward Eddie Williams scored 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in 39 minutes to lead Stephen F. Austin to a 72-65 win over UT Arlington Wednesday night in Southland Conference play at Johnson Coliseum.
The win improves SFA to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in league play. UT Arlington moves to 8-8 on the year and 1-3 in the Southland.
Junior forwards Orren Tims and Jordan Glynn joined Williams in double digits with 17 and 14 points, respectively, and hit crucial free throws down the stretch in what was a closely contested game throughout, featuring six lead changes and six tied scores.
The lead changed hands for the final time with 10 minutes to play, when Tims sank a fast-break layup to give SFA a 42-41 advantage. The play started in the UTA frontcourt, when freshman center Will Reinke stole the ball and pushed it ahead on the break.
Reinke gave the 'Jacks a three-point lead on the next possession when he flushed a fast-break dunk after again recording a steal at the other end.
Tims and Glynn scored the next six SFA points, and Williams followed a pair of Maverick free throws with a 3-pointer to give the Lumberjacks a 53-45 edge with 6:32 to play.
Tims would go on to sink five more foul shots down the stretch and put back his own miss with 54 seconds left to give SFA a 64-58 lead. UT Arlington would not get closer than five points the rest of the way, as the Lumberjacks hit all of their final 13 free throws over the last three minutes. Glynn sank four from the stripe in that stretch, including the final two with less than a second to play.
In all, SFA went 30-for-35 at the free-throw line, bettering its previous season highs in both made shots and attempts. Glynn (6-for-6), Walt Harris (4-for-4), Denzel Barnes (4-for-4) and Jereal Scott (2-for-2) were all perfect at the stripe, while Tims finished 11-of-12, and Mark Gomillia sank three of his four attempts.
Marquez Haynes scored 22 points to lead the Mavericks. Brandon Long added 12, and Dwight Gentry and LaMarcus Reed scored 10 points apiece.
SFA will be back in action Saturday, when the Lumberjacks host Southeastern Louisiana. The game is scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. UT Arlington will play host to Sam Houston State Saturday at 7 p.m.