Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – Arkansas State men’s basketball (20-11, 11-7 SBC) used an overwhelming second-half surge to defeat Louisiana (10-21, 7-11 SBC) on Senior Night inside First National Bank Arena.
As of Feb. 27, A-State is one of 37 teams to win 20-plus games in each of the last three seasons, and is one of 21 programs from a non-autonomous conference to achieve the feat. Head coach Ryan Pannone joins Grant McCasland as the only first-year A-State head coaches to win 20 games in a regular season.
TJ Caldwell led the team with 19 points while Matt Hayman (15) and Jalen Hampton (13) also reached double figures. Hampton secured his seventh double-double of the season with a team-leading 10 rebounds while Hayman dished a team-high five assists.
As a team A-State shot 29-for-62 (46.8 percent), including 11-for-32 (34.4 percent) from three-point range, and 12-for-24 from the charity stripe. The Red Wolves held a 49-43 advantage on the boards and outscored the opposition 36-18 in the paint.
A three-pointer from Hayman paired with a layup from Aly Tounkara opened the contest, and Hampton countered three free throws with a make from beyond the arc at the 15:50 mark. The Red Wolves added three more triples plus a layup from Jaxon Ellingsworth to claim a 19-9 advantage over the Ragin’ Cajuns.
An offensive rebound following a 1-for-2 trip to the charity stripe resulted in Hayman’s third three-pointer of the contest, but the opposition matched it on the other end. Both sides evenly exchanged the next 12 points before a tip-in layup from Jackson sparked a 9-2 run.
Louisiana added one point from the charity stripe before the clock hit 0:00, but A-State took a 37-22 lead into intermission.
The Scarlet and Black stormed out of the locker room with a 12-0 run powered by scores from five different Red Wolves. Louisiana countered with an 8-0 run of their own before Caldwell stalled the effort with a triple and pushed the lead back to 20.
With the score at 54-34, A-State outscored the opposition 7-6 before a surge from the latter tightened the contest. A 12-1 run closed the gap to 64-52, but a driving layup from Hayman stonewalled the effort and sparked a 12-1 stretch in the Red Wolves favor.
A dunk from Hampton gave A-State a 76-53 lead entering the final two minutes, and after the Ragin’ Cajuns scored five of the next eight points, Royal Blue Smith capped the contest with a dunk to secure the 23-point victory.
NEXT UP
A-State will face the winner of Game 4 on Thursday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament held in Pensacola, Florida. The matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+
