The men’s basketball team went on the road to face Central Arkansas, after winning two big games at home, and lost by a score of 84-73.
The Wildcats struggled in the first half making ten of 31 shots (32%) and going four of 12 on three-pointers (33%).
No scoring occurred in the game until the 17:47 mark of the first half when redshirt freshman center Jalone Friday made two free throws.
Scoring continued to prove hard to come by for both teams as the score was 9-9 at the 9:59 mark.
Central Arkansas began to pick up the pace at that point, however, scoring 13 points up to the 5:53 mark while the Wildcats could only score five making the score 22-14.
The Sugar Bears ended up holding the Wildcats to 28 points in the half and held the lead at a score of 37-28.
The Wildcats started out on the second half on a 15-6 run up to the 15:20 mark of and tied the game at 43.
However, the Sugar Bears rattled of an 18-6 run in response to take the lead for good at the 8:16 mark.
After that run, Central Arkansas never looked back and only let the Wildcats come within 7 as it cruised to a victory.
This dropped the men to 4-8 in conference with a 10-13 overall record, while Central Arkansas moved to 6-6 in conference play and 7-18 overall.
Sophomore forward Hayden Howell talked about the team’s motivation moving forward.
“It was a real tough game, but we believe in ourselves and we can’t give up,” Howell said. “Basketball’s a great sport in that when you have a bad game you often times get another opportunity to turn it around quick.”
Leaders for the Wildcats in the game included Friday who scored 18 points and had seven rebounds, as well as sophomore point guard Jaylen Franklin who had 17 points and seven assists.
The men will be jumping back into action quickly as they will be facing Northwestern for the first time this season at home on Saturday.
Sophomore guard Jaren Lewis spoke on getting to play in Moody after a tough loss.
“It’s gonna be great to play at home against Northwestern after a tough loss,” Lewis said. “We know we need to bounce back and it’s great to do so in Moody. We have had some great crowds recently so hopefully Saturday is just as good or better.”
Northwestern State sits in last in the conference with a 3-8 record in Southland play and a 9-13 overall record.
However, NWSU has a top play maker in Devonte Hall, who is third in the conference with 4.9 assists per game.
Sabri Thompson of Northwestern leads his team in points per game with 13.6 and ranks 14th in the conference.
Redshirt freshman guard B.J. Maxwell is focused on getting a win this Saturday.
“From here we have to grind and advance to tomorrow’s game vs Northwestern State and do whatever it takes to come out with a win.”
The tipoff time will depend on the the ending time of the women’s game before, however the scheduled time is 4 P.M.
