Josh Hagins had 15 points and eight rebounds as the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans defeated the Troy Trojans 74-61 in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Lakefront Arena.
James White scored 14 points for fifth-seed Arkansas-Little Rock (15-16), which will play fourth-seed Arkansas State on Friday in the quarterfinal round. Ben Dillard and DeVonte Smith each finished with 11 points, with Smith adding eight assists.
Tevin Calhoun netted 15 points while Antoine Myers chipped in 12 for eighth- seed Troy (11-20). Hunter Williams and Jeff Mullahey tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Josh Warren cleared nine boards.
The teams entered the break tied at 33-33. UALR connected on 36.4 percent from the floor in the first half, but only 2-of-10 from 3-point range. Troy turned in a 32.4 percent shooting effort with 3-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc falling through.
UALR drained 58.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the second stanza while Troy struggled and converted 27.6 percent of its shots from the floor. With the scored tied at 44 with 13:29 left, UALR went on a 16-0 run to pull away and coast to victory.
UALR did a better job inside, as it outscored Troy 38-20 in the paint.
[SportsNetwork.com]
