Thursday, February 4

North Texas 86, Florida Atlantic 69
DENTON, Texas (AP) - Eric Tramiel had 17 points as five North Texas players scored in double figures in an 86-69 victory against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night.

Tristan Thompson had 16 points, George Odufuwa 14, Alzee Williams 12 and Shannon Shorter 10 for the Mean Green (14-8, 7-5 Sun Belt).

Greg Gantt had 18 points and Raymond Taylor 14 for Florida Atlantic (12-11, 8-4), which had a five-game winning streak snapped.

Odufuwa had nine rebounds.

With the score tied at 9-9 midway through the first half, North Texas scored the game's next 11 points and maintained control the rest of the way.

Troy 70, Middle Tennessee 67
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Mike Vogler sank a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left as Troy held on to beat Middle Tennessee 70-67 on Thursday night and snap the Blue Raiders' five-game winning streak.

Vogler scored 16 points and Brandon Hazzard led the Trojans (13-10, 8-4 Sun Belt Conference) with 21, including 14 in the second half. Hazzard was 5-for-10 from 3-point range.

Troy led by as many as 12 points and survived a tie at 65, with Hazzard hitting a 3. Middle Tennessee cut the lead to 68-67 with 20 seconds left, but Vogler's foul shots gave the Trojans three wins in a row for the first time this season.

James Washington led the Blue Raiders with 15 points and James Gallman added 14, all in the second half.

Middle Tennessee held a 33-31 rebounding edge.

Troy's win, combined with a loss by Florida Atlantic, moved the Trojans into a tie for first in the Sun Belt East Division.

South Alabama 59, New Orleans 51
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tim Williams scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds to lead South Alabama to a 59-51 victory over New Orleans on Thursday night.

Gary Redus added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Jaguars (13-11, 5-7 Sun Belt Conference), who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Redus scored 10 of the Jaguars' first 11 points, going 4-for-4 from the field, as the Jaguars jumped out to an 11-4 lead. South Alabama ended the first half on a 17-4 run to take a 33-23 lead into halftime. Redus finished with 10 first-half points.

New Orleans (7-16, 2-10) opened the second half on a 14-2 run and took a 37-35 lead on Quincy Diggs' 3-pointer with 16 minutes to play. But Martino Brock hit a 3 to give the Jaguars a 42-40 lead with 13:32 left.

Brock finished with 12 points and South Alabama outrebounded New Orleans 40-23.

Devin McDonald led New Orleans with 14 and Carl Blair added 10 points.

Louisiana-Monroe 67, WKU 66
MONROE, La. (AP) - Dynile Forbes scored 22 points, including the game-winning free throw with 1.9 seconds left and Louisiana-Monroe defeated Western Kentucky 67-66 on Thursday night.

The Warhawks (10-14, 5-8 Sun Belt Conference) trailed 66-60 before a three-point play by Tommie Sykes with 1:49 to go. Kenneth Averette's 3 tied it 1:26 later.

The Hilltoppers (12-11, 5-6) held for the last shot, but Lawrence Gilbert forced a turnover and hit Forbes ahead of the play. Forbes then split his foul shots to give Louisiana-Monroe its first ever win against Western Kentucky in five tries.

The Warhawks held on for the win, batting away a desperation long pass.

Rudy Turner scored 11 points and Colby Carr had 10 for Louisiana-Monroe, which snapped a two-game skid.

Jeremy Evans scored 19 points and AJ Slaughter 18 for the Hilltoppers. Caden Dickerson chipped in 10 points for Western Kentucky.

Louisiana-Lafayette 83, FIU 63
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Tyren Johnson scored 22 points, leading five Louisiana-Lafayette players in double figures in an 83-63 win over Florida International on Thursday night.

Randell Daigle added 19 points, Chris Gradnigo 13, Travis Bureau 11 and Lamar Roberson 10 for the Ragin' Cajuns (10-12, 7-4 Sun Belt Conference).

Johnson has scored in double figures in 11 straight games and has at least 20 points in four of his last five games at home. He also added six rebounds, four steals and three blocks for the Ragin' Cajuns.

Johnson hit a 3-pointer to open the game, the Ragin' Cajuns started with a 6-1 run and they never trailed in this one.

The Ragin' Cajuns shot 47.6 percent from 3-point range (10-for-21) compared to just a 16.7 mark (3-for-18) for the Golden Panthers.

J.C. Otero notched a double-double to lead FIU (7-18, 4-8), scoring 17 points and pulling down 11 boards.

UALR 79, Arkansas State 77
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Alex Garcia-Mendoza hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer Thursday to give Arkansas-Little Rock a 79-77 victory over Arkansas State.

The Trojans (7-15, 3-8 Sun Belt), who trailed almost the entire second half, were down 77-76 after JeJuan Brown hit one of two free throws with :03 remaining to give Arkansas State (13-9, 8-3) the lead.

Solomon Bozeman led Little Rock with 20 points and seven assists. Garcia-Mendoza added 14 points, Matt Mouzy 12 and Kelson Stewart 10.

Brandon Reed and Martavius Adams each scored 17 points for Arkansas State (13-9, 8-3), which had won six of its last seven games and was in first place in the Sun Belt Conference. Rashad Allison added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Red Wolves.

Little Rock was outrebounded 44-31 but made up for it by hitting 10 of 19 3-point attempts compared to 6 of 21 for the Red Wolves.