Thursday, January 14

WKU 79, Florida Atlantic 72
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - A.J. Slaughter scored 25 points and Steffphon Pettigrew added 21 to help Western Kentucky beat Florida Atlantic 79-72 on Thursday night.

Slaughter scored 21 points in the second half for the Hilltoppers (10-5, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference), including 14 of their 16 midway through the half.

Western Kentucky shot 54.5 percent in the second half (12 of 22) after trailing 34-33 at halftime.

The Hilltoppers led for most of the first half, until Raymond Taylor had three-point play to give the Owls (7-10, 2-3) a 29-28 lead with 3 minutes left until halftime.

Western Kentucky, which trailed by as many as four, cut the halftime deficit to one on Caden Dickerson's 3 with 28 seconds left.

Greg Gantt scored 23 points for Florida Atlantic, including 17 in the second half. Jordan McCoy added 13 and Taylor had 11 points and nine assists for the Owls.

New Orleans 67, UALR 66
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Devin McDonald scored 20 points and Carl Blair hit the game-winning layup with 34 seconds left in overtime as New Orleans edged Arkansas-Little Rock 67-66 on Thursday night.

Arkansas-Little Rock's Ricky Davison missed a layup with 18 seconds left, Courtney Jackson missed two free throws with 16 seconds to play and Solomon Bozeman missed a jumper with 2 seconds left to help New Orleans (7-11, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) win for just the second time in 11 games.

Alex Garcia-Mendoza's jumper gave the Red Wolves (4-13, 0-6), who have lost eight straight, a 66-65 lead with 1:01 remaining.

McDonald was 6-for-9 on 3-pointers as the Privateers shot 45.8 percent from beyond the arc (11 of 24).

Charles Carmouche added 18 and Blair finished with 10 for New Orleans, which played without leading scorer Billy Humphrey (knee).

Jackson had 16 points and Garcia-Mendoza scored 12.

North Texas 75, Troy 72
TROY, Ala. (AP) - Tristan Thompson scored 21 points, including sinking five free throws in the game's final minute, to lead North Texas past Troy 75-72 on Thursday night.

Josh White added 18 points and Jacob Holmen had 12 for the Mean Green (11-6, 4-3 Sun Belt Conference), who have won five of their last seven games. Eric Tramiel finished with 11 points in his first action since four-game absence due to an injured wrist.

With Thompson leading the way, North Texas hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final 54 seconds of the game to clinch the win. Troy's Brandon Hazzard tried for a game-tying, 24-foot 3-pointer with two defenders in his face, but it clanked out at the buzzer.

Yamene Coleman led the Trojans (9-8, 4-2) with 14 points.

The Mean Green, who are 10-0 this year when leading at halftime, outscored Troy in bench points 34-13 in the game.

ULM 61, South Alabama 58
MONROE, La. (AP) - Dynile Forbes scored 14 points and Louisiana-Monroe defeated South Alabama 61-58 on Thursday night.

The Warhawks (7-11, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) trailed 58-57 with 1:59 remaining, before hitting four free throws and getting three defensive stops.

Tommie Sykes gave ULM the lead for good, at 59-58, on two free throws with 1:37 to go, and Forbes hit two more with 15 seconds left.

The Warhawks were outrebounded 40-29 and shot just 30 percent from the field (15 of 50). However, they shot 80 percent from the free throw line (24 of 30) and snapped a two-game losing streak and seven-game skid to the Jaguars (11-7, 3-3).

South Alabama led 18-14 and it stayed close throughout most of the first half. But a 13-3 run gave ULM a 27-21 lead with 5 minutes left, en route to a 31-25 halftime lead.

Martino Brock scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Jaguars.

FIU 65, Middle Tennessee 58
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Marvin Roberts scored 17 points and Florida International led throughout the second half to defeat Middle Tennessee 65-58 on Thursday night.

The Golden Panthers (6-14, 3-4 Sun Belt Conference) shot 60.9 percent from the field (14-for-23) in the second half and 56.5 percent for the game (26-for-46).

Florida International used a 13-2 run to build a 47-30 lead with 12:23 left in the game. Roberts, Stephon Weaver and JC Otero hit consecutive 3-pointers to cap the run.

Middle Tennessee (8-9, 3-2) cut its deficit to 61-56 on Desmond Yates' jumper with 54 seconds left, but the Blue Raiders could get no closer.

Otero finished with 11 points and Marlon Bright had 10 rebounds for Florida International.

Montarrio Haddock scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds for Middle Tennessee. Yates finished with 16 points.

Louisiana-Lafayette 55, Denver 49
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Chris Gradnigo scored 18 points and Louisiana-Lafayette held Denver, the nation's second-ranked shooting squad, to a season-low 34.7 percent in a 55-49 win Thursday night.

The Ragin' Cajuns (6-10, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) jumped out to a 30-10 lead and led 30-17 at halftime. The Pioneers, who came into the game shooting 53 percent, shot 36.4 percent from the field (8-for-22) in the first half and were 17-for-49 for the game.

Louisiana-Lafayette opened the second half with an 11-3 run to lead 41-20 with 14:01 left, but Denver whittled the lead to 47-43 with 2:22 left. The Ragin' Cajuns hit 8 of 10 free throws to seal the win.

Denver (12-6, 5-2), which snapped a two-game winning streak, was held below 40 percent for the second time this season.

Randell Daigle added 14 points for Louisiana-Lafayette.

Brian Stafford had 16 points to lead Denver.