JONESBORO – The Arkansas State men’s basketball team won a thrilling 82-80 contest over Troy Saturday night at the Convocation Center.

With the victory, A-State improves to 13-6 on the season and 4-2 in the league, while Troy falls to 10-10 on the year and 2-4 in the Sun Belt.

Devin Carter led the Red Wolves 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including six, 3-pointers. Tama Bruce finished the night with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Deven Simms added 17 points. Rashad Lindsey also finished in double-figures with 10 points.

Troy was led by Jordon Varnado with 18 points, while Juan Davis, Jr. provided 16 points.

How It Happened (First Half):

Troy held an eight point lead midway through the first thanks to a hot hand from beyond the arc. The Trojans drained six, 3-pointers in the opening half and collected 17 boards and dished out nine assists.

A-State responded with a 7-0 run and got within 25-24 on after a 3-pointer by Devin Carter and later took a one point lead on a jumper by Carter with 2:51 to go in the half. Troy responded with a trey of it’s own and built its lead to 39-34 thanks to a 5-0 run to close the half.

Troy shot 55 percent from the field in the opening half and held the edge on the glass. The Red Wolves shot 46 percent from the field and drained five 3-pointers. A-State also got good production from its bench which scored 11 points behind seven points by Deven Simms. Carter led the way for A-State in the half with 11 points.

How It Happened (Second Half):

Troy pushed the lead to its largest at 10 points early in the half before the Red Wolves began to claw their back into the game. Devin Carter cut the deficit down to one after making the front end of a pair of free throws, but the Trojans quickly answered with a basket on the other end.

Carter tied the game at 57-57 on one of his six, 3-pointers of the night, but Troy answered again with a trey of its own on the following offensive possession. Rashad Lindsey got the Red Wolves within a point with 8:10 to go, but Troy again answered on the following trip.

Deven Simms tied the game at 67-67 with 5:43 and Tama Bruce followed with a tipin to give A-State its first lead since the latter part of the first half. Troy, however, responded again and went up 71-69 after a pair of free throws by Devon Walker.

A-State went up 75-73 after Donte Thomas followed a Simms miss with a tipin, but Troy again answered and took a 79-78 lead on a 3-pointer by Wesley Person with 1:29 to go.

The Red Wolves took the lead back on a layup from Simms and then Simms got a steal and made two free throws to push the lead to 81-78 with 51 seconds to go. Troy got within a point with 12 seconds left, but Lindsey converted the front end of a 1-and-1 to put the Red Wolves up 82-80 and the Trojans shot at the buzzer just missed the mark to give A-State the win.

Notables:

Devin Carter posted 20-plus points for the 13th time in 26 games against Sun Belt foes. He has nine 20-plus point performances this season and 24 in 50 total games with the Red Wolves.

Tamas Bruce equaled his career high with 19 points on the night. He’s scored 19 points in back-to-back games at the Convocation Center with his double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds against ULM on Jan. 2 in the most recent home game.

With six made 3-pointers tonight, Devin Carter moved into seventh-place in program history with 150 made 3-pointers in his 50 games played.

Donte Thomas dished out nine assists, his sixth game this season with nine or more. Thomas now has 259 career assists at A-State, 16 shy of reaching the top-10 all-time leaders in program history.

The announced attendance of 4,678 was the largest crow since Jan. 25, 2014 when the Red Wolves hosted Little Rock in front of 5,631. It is also the largest non-Little Rock crowd since Feb. 23, 2013 against Troy (5,268).

Quoting Coach MacCasland:

“I’m proud of our guys for getting a win and the one stat that stands out to me is that we only gave up one offensive rebound in the second half after giving up six in the first half. I was proud of our team for the way they competed on the glass and found way to win and that was fun game to be part of.”

“We work on situations all the time in practice where we create competitive situations and that translates into guys making big plays like Jahmiah Simmons did where he jumped and got a deflection on a shot at the end of the game. That is where that pays off and its players like Jahmiah Simmons that win you games.”

Up Next:

Arkansas State faces South Alabama Monday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN3. The game is a “Red Out” and all fans are encouraged to wear RED to the game. The first 500 students in attendance will receive a FREE t-shirt.

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Arkansas State men’s basketball cut a 17-point second half deficit to five points, but Minnesota held off a furious second half by the Red Wolves to come away with 82-75 victory at Williams Arena Friday night.

Devin Carter had a game-high 23 points while Deven Simms added 13 points and Rashad Lindsey chipped in with 11 for A-State (9-4). DuPree McBrayer led four Minnesota (12-1) players in double figures with 19 points.

“You turn the ball over 20 times, it makes it hard to win on the road and that’s what it boiled down to tonight,” said A-State head coach Grant McCasland. “We didn’t guard the ball well in the first half with penetration or fouls, whatever it may be, but I thought we were more competitive defensively in the second half allowing us to play more in transition. Any time you can play in transition, it takes pressure off of your half-court offense. Tonight was probably the worst defensive effort we’ve had this season over 40 minutes, but that’s playing on the road against a good Big Ten team. They played us in ways that will hopefully make us better in the long run.”

The Red Wolves faced a 40-26 halftime deficit that swelled to 17 points with 12:25 left. A-State refused to go away quietly as Tamas Bruce, who was making his first start, and Simms hit back-to-back layups to cut it to a 55-42 deficit with 11:43 remaining. Carter hit his 3-pointer of the night after one of his career high five steals to make it a 10-point deficit, but a foul on the other end gave the Golden Gophers a chance to snap the run.

Minnesota hit 1-of-2 free throws and converted a turnover by A-State into a transition layup to rebuild a 13-point lead, 58-45, with 10:24 left. Connor Kern, who was 3-for-3 from 3-point range on the night, converted to make it 58-48, but a foul on a dunk saw Minnesota regain the 13-point edge the next trip down the court.

Trailing 62-48 with 9:30 on the clock, the Red Wolves used an 8-1 run to get the deficit down to seven, 63-56, with 7:14 remaining. Lindsey started the run with a layup and Carter followed with the next six points. Minnesota answered with a 6-0 spurt to take a 13-point lead again, this time with 6:04 left, but A-State trimmed it to five, 69-64, with 4:21 to play.

After trading buckets, A-State trailed 71-66 with 3:23 left, but Akeem Springs drained an open 3-pointer to spark another Minnesota run that grew to 7-0 as the Golden Gophers grabbed a 78-66 lead with 1:29 left. A-State didn’t go away, forcing Minnesota to make foul shots while going to the rim. Simms drained a 3-pointer to make it an 80-71 with 18 seconds remaining, but Minnesota split free throws on consecutive fouls to keep the deficit at nine. Lindsey hit a layup with four seconds left to set the final score of 82-75.

Salif Boudie led the Red Wolves with seven rebounds, a season-best, as A-State ended the night with a 34-27 edge on the glass. A-State shot 60.6 percent (20-33) from the field, including 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) beyond the arc, and out-rebounded the Golden Gophers 19-10 in the second half.

Minnesota led for much of the first half of action, turning six A-State turnovers into 12 points in the first 10 minutes. With 8:03 left in the half, A-State trailed 18-14, but Minnesota went on a 6-0 run to help build a 14-point halftime lead. Simms, who had seven first half points, drove to the rim and was fouled before completing the and-one to make it 24-17 and Kern later followed with a triple to make it 26-20 with 5:33 left in the first half.

Minnesota responded with a 9-0 run to build a 15-point advantage, 35-20, with 2:48 left in the half, hitting their fifth trey of the half to cap the run. Despite struggling from the floor in the first half (33 percent), the Red Wolves finished the night 50 percent (27-54). Minnesota shot 53.1 percent (26-49) from the field and 50 percent (7-14) beyond the arc. The Golden Gophers shot 18 more free throws than A-State, hitting 65.7 percent (23-35) from the charity stripe. The Red Wolves were a season high 82.4 percent at the line (14-17), with Carter going 9-for-10.

A-State finished the night with 20 turnovers against 15 for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota had a 17-5 edge in points off turnovers at halftime and finished with a 33-22 advantage. A-State outscored the Golden Gophers in the paint, 38-34, and 28-23 in bench points.

“I talked to our team afterward, but we’ve got to basically wipe the slate clean,” McCasland said. “It doesn’t matter now what you did previously, it’s all about what we do moving forward. Our goal has always been one thing and we get the opportunity to step right into conference play at home on Dec. 31. We’ve got a lot to learn from this one, but I’m looking forward to getting back after Christmas and having great practices ahead of playing Louisiana.

The Red Wolves return home to open Sun Belt Conference play against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, Dec. 31, at 5:00 p.m.

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Arkansas State men’s basketball struggled to 34 percent (20-59) from the floor and Alabama ran past the Red Wolves 67-52 Wednesday night in the Rocket City Classic at the Von Braun Center.

Deven Simms led all scorers with 15 points, but was 6-for-16 (.375) from the floor. Devin Carter was the only other A-State player in double figures finishing with 14 points on 5-of-16 (.313) shooting. Carter was 0-for-6 from 3-point range, his first game at A-State without a 3-point make. Jimmie Taylor led the Crimson Tide with 12 points, one of three to finish in double figures.

“Alabama really guarded the ball well,” said A-State head coach Grant McCasland. “We rely upon Donte Thomas making plays off the ball screen, but they did a good job putting pressure on the ball. We got our head down and tried to make too big a play on our own. I didn’t do a good enough job offensively to help our team tonight. We didn’t do a good enough job on ball movement and I’m honestly disappointed that I didn’t do a better job helping us get a win.”

“Defensively, we got some stops, but we didn’t come up the ball to give us a chance to make plays in transition. We looked a little dead, we looked a little tired and we didn’t have a zip to us where we could turn defensive rebounds into transition points. We were too slow in transition, then when we had angles, their big guys made plays and blocked shots at the rim.”

Alabama (6-5) showed aggressive defense from the opening tip, but the Red Wolves managed to hold as much as a five point lead for much of the opening 10-plus minutes of the game. Carter scored seven-straight for A-State midway through the first half to build a five-point advantage for the Red Wolves. Carter drove to the rim, was fouled and converted the free throw for an and-one to make it 12-11 with 10:59 left in the first half.

Carter sank two more free throws to make it 14-11 with 10:32 on the first half clock and converted a runner in the lane to make it 16-11 with 9:38 showing. Alabama converted a pair of free throws to cut it to 16-13, but Rashad Lindsey hit a jumper in the paint to rebuild the advantage to five points, 18-13, with 8:20 left in the first half.

After a layup by the Crimson Tide made it 18-15, C.J. Foster was called for a flagrant foul resulting in two shots and the ball. Alabama split the free throws, but an offensive rebound and put back tied the game with 6:42 remaining.

Shannon Hale converted the putback to tie the game and he followed with a 3-pointer on the other end to give Alabama the lead and the Crimson Tide never trailed after that. Alabama built a nine point advantage, 31-22, with 1:11 left in the first half, but Simms scored the final four points of the half on layups to cut the halftime deficit to 31-26.

The Red Wolves were able to pull within two points in the second half, on two different occasions, but Alabama pulled away for the 15-point win. Lindsey hit the first 3-pointer for A-State with 18:34 remaining and Tamas Bruce followed with a layup to trim the deficit to 34-32. The two teams traded buckets with Carter hitting a tough layup to make it 36-34 with 16:29 left.

Alabama outscored A-State 29-10 over the next 14 minutes to build a 21-point lead, 65-44, with 1:48 left. The Red Wolves were able to cut the final deficit to 15 points with Carter and Simms hitting layups while Kern drained a 3-pointer. A-State committed 10 turnovers in the second half and finished with 16 for the game against seven assists.

The Crimson Tide finished 50 percent (15-30) from the floor in the second half and 43.9 percent (25-57) on the night. Alabama was 4-for-13 (30.8 percent) beyond the arc, but A-State struggled as well going 4-for-15 (25 percent). The Red Wolves finished 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) at the charity stripe while Alabama was 13-for-22 (59.1 percent). A-State was out-rebounded 43-40 and lost the battle in the paint 40-26.

The Red Wolves travel to Minneapolis, Minn., tomorrow before taking on Minnesota Friday at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

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MARTIN, Tenn. – Devin Carter set an Arkansas State record with 10 made 3-pointers as the Red Wolves rolled to a 87-68 victory over UT Martin Wednesday evening at the Elam Center.

Carter finished with a season-high 33 points, narrowly missing his career high of 34, and tied the NCAA Division I mark for most made 3-pointers this season. All but one of his field goals were from beyond the arc, and his only traditional field goal resulted in a 3-point play from the free throw line.

C.J. Foster also finished in double-figures with a career-high 14 points, while Deven Simms added 16.

“What a great performance by Devin Carter tonight,” A-State head coach Grant McCasland said. “What a great teammate he has been this season and his energy has been great all season. It’s never been about him getting his and he hasn’t taken bad shots and I’m happy for him because he deserves this. We found a way as a team to get stops and it was a good win.”

UT Martin opened up a 10-point lead in the first half thanks to a 14-0 run over a six minute span that pushed the advantage to 23-13. Salif Boudie provided a boost from the bench as a layup sparked a 10-2 run for the Red Wolves. Carter capped the run with a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 25-23 with 5:57 left in the half.

Carter led Arkansas State in the opening 20 minutes with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting all from beyond the arc. Boudie also provided early offense with a presence in the paint and helped the Red Wolves lead early in the game before the Skyhawks went on the run to build their lead.

Carter brought A-State within 33-32 and Simms gave the Red Wolves their first lead since 15:14 in the first half when he capped a 6-0 run to end the half for A-State with an and-1 conversion to take a 35-33 lead into the break. The Red Wolves would not trail in the game after that point.

The Skyhawks tied the game briefly at 35-35 at the start of the second half and again at 37-37 with 18:33 to go, but A-State would outscore UTM 20-6 over the next 5:12 to build a 12-point advantage.

Carter helped A-State extend the lead in the second half by going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 6-of-9 from the field. It marked the third time in his career that has exceeded the 30-point plateau.

Arkansas finished the night 30-of-65 (46 percent) from the field and drained 44 percent (14-of-32) of 3-point attempts. The Red Wolves also held a 35-34 edge on the glass while limiting the Skyhawks to just eight offensive rebounds, including just one in the second half.

A-State held the Skyhawks to just 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc in the first half, marking the seventh time in 10 games that Red Wolves have held an opponent to 20 percent or lower in the category.

A-State returns to action on Friday, Dec. 16 when it travels to Conway, Ark., to take on in-state foe Central Arkansas. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Farris Center.

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