An extended scoring drought turned a tight game into a lopsided one Saturday night.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team fell 83-67 to Southern University at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
UAPB coach Solomon Bozeman said the Golden Lions had trouble with Southern’s zone defense, leading to UAPB going 10:17 without a field goal in the second half.
“Zone hasn’t been a problem for us all year,” Bozeman said. “We get what we want in zone, and tonight, we weren’t able to execute in our zone offense, so I thought that’s what changed the game.”
UAPB (3-16, 0-6 SWAC) trailed 45-43 with 18:43 remaining in the game after a layup by junior guard Dante Sawyer. The Golden Lions had trailed since the first shot of the game but were hanging with the SWAC’s first-place team.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Southern (11-8, 6-0) answered with a layup on its next possession. A Doctor Bradley free throw made it a one-possession game again, 47-44, with 17:59 to play.
The Golden Lions didn’t score again until Christian Moore made two free throws with 10:30 remaining. The next field goal, another Sawyer layup, came with 8:26 to play after 14-straight missed shots.
The Jaguars went on a 14-0 run between the free throws, with 10 of those points coming from the free throw line. Southern went on a 19-3 run between UAPB field goals.
Sawyer said the Golden Lions got out of the slump by getting to the rim.
“We felt like they couldn’t guard us in the one-on-one setting,” Sawyer said. “We had to get more paint touches and stop shooting 3s. That’s how we get down in most of our games.”
Southern’s largest lead was 74-52 with 5:28 remaining. UAPB was able to cut into it with an 11-2 run before Southern guard Jordan Johnson hit a 3-pointer to help end any thoughts of a miracle.
Southern center Dionjahe Thomas led all scorers with 19 points and nine rebounds. Johnson and Michael Jacobs added 15 each. The Jaguars shot 44.8% from the field and made 8 of 23 attempts from 3-point range while outrebounding UAPB 43-31.
Bozeman said the Golden Lions need to play better defense to withstand scoring slumps.
“If you’re not scoring it well, you’ve gotta have enough toughness on that other side of the floor and get stops,” Bozeman said. “We gotta be tough enough to go get stops. I thought once we couldn’t score, and then we don’t make our free throws, they come on the other end, and we don’t get stops. We gotta continue to get tougher, continue to fight.”
Bradley led UAPB with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sawyer and Quentin Bolton scored 11 each. UAPB finished 39.1% from the field after shooting 50% in the first half. The Golden Lions made 8 of 20 3-pointers but only converted 19 of their 35 free throws.