07 Feb 2024 Trojans move to tied for third in win over UT Martin

Posted at 4:34 PMh in Sports by

LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock Men’s Basketball team moved into a tie for third place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings after a 77-57 victory over UT Martin on Tuesday. Five Trojans scored in double-figures for the win.

Bradley Douglas led all Trojans with 17 points, including three three-pointers, and also contributed seven rebounds.  Makhel Mitchell recorded a season-high 14 points and tied his season-high of five blocks.

Photo by Mark Wagner.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson recorded his second-straight double-double with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while DeAntoni Gordon knocked down 12 points.  KK Robinson recorded ten points, including two three-pointers in the win.

This is the second straight week that the Trojans have held opponents to under 40% field goal percentage as the Skyhawks went 24-of-68 from the field (35.3%).  Little Rock’s defense also held UT Martin to the lowest opponent three-point field goal percentage of the season at 13.0% (3-of-23).  

Crocker-Johnson opened the half with a three-pointer to spark a 13-2 run for the Trojans.  UT Martin scored four straight points before Gordon knocked down two on a putback.

Over the next five minutes, Little Rock outscored the Skyhawks 9-7 including six points from Mitchell to maintain the 24-13 advantage.

The Trojans maintained the lead the rest of the half to go into the locker room up 40-25.

UT Martin opened the second half with a layup, before Little Rock answered back with back-to-back jumpers by Crocker-Johnson and Chaplin to bring the Trojan lead to 44-27 with 16:43 left in the game.

A three-pointer by Robinson with 13:40 on the clock put the Trojans up 49-31.  Both teams exchange points, before a layup and one by Mitchell extended the advantage to 58-38  for Little Rock.

With 7:37 remaining, Douglas scored eight-straight points including back-to-back three-pointers followed by a layup by Gordon to extend the lead to 71-44.

A layup by Douglas is the final seconds brought the final victory to 77-57.

The Trojans hit the road to continue OVC action at Western Illinois. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight, Feb. 8.