JONESBORO – Led by four players scoring in double figures, the Arkansas State men’s basketball team won its Sun Belt Conference opener and third consecutive game with a 74-56 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday at First National Bank Arena.

The Red Wolves have now won seven of their last eight games and stand 10-3 overall, including a 7-1 mark at home.  They connected on 43.9 percent of their shots and made 19-of-20 free throws, while limiting Georgia Southern (7-6, 0-2) to a .367 field goal percentage.

A-State was led by Norchad Omier with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, giving the second-year freshman forward eight double-doubles this season and 23 for his career.  Marquis Eaton and Desi Sills both finished with 15 points, while Caleb Fields added 11.

While A-State never trailed and held a 13-point lead, 23-10, with just over six minutes remaining in the first half, it took just a 27-22 lead into the break.  However, the Red Wolves scored 12 of the first 16 points to start the second half and rebuilt their lead to 13.

A-State, which outscored Georgia Southern 47-34 in the second half, held a double-digit lead the rest of the way as its advantage reached as much as 26 points, 71-45, with just under two minutes remaining.

The Red Wolves held a 39-35 advantage on the boards, improving to 10-0 on the year when outrebounding their opponent.  They collected six blocks as well, tying their second most this year.

In addition to his 15 points, Sills also posted a career-high five steals, helping the Red Wolves register 12 as a team to tie their second most this year.  Fields’ day also included seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a career-high two blocks.

Georgia Southern was led by two players scoring in double digits, including junior forward Andrei Savrasov with 13 and senior guard Kaden Archie with 12.

Arkansas State returns to action Thursday, Jan. 6, with a 7:00 p.m. game at Louisiana.  The contest will appear on ESPN+, and every A-State men’s basketball team can be heard live on the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network, including flagship station 107.9 FM in the Northeast Arkansas area.  For the latest on A-State men’s basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@AStateMB), Facebook (/AStateMB) and Instagram (@astatemb).

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STATESBORO, Ga. – For the second consecutive game, the Arkansas State women’s basketball team faced a double-digit second-half deficit on the road on Thursday at Georgia Southern.

However, A-State (7-7, 0-1 SBC) could not make it two straight come-from-behind road triumphs, falling 84-75 to the Eagles (10-3, 1-0) at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Red Wolves trailed by as much as 13 early in the fourth quarter and clawed back to cut it to one with under 2 minutes remaining, but strong free-throw shooting late allowed the Eagles to hold on for the win to open Sun Belt Conference play.

Lauryn Pendleton led a trio of double-digit scorers for A-State with 16 points off the bench to go along with 6 rebounds. Trinitee Jackson dropped 10 points and 6 boards while Keya Patton also chipped in 10 points. Morgan Wallace was the game’s top rebounder, grabbing 10 off the glass.

A-State shot 39.7 percent from the field on 25 of 63 shooting and connected on 19 of 26 from the free-throw line (73.1 percent). Every player who saw time for the Red Wolves scored in the contest.

Georgia Southern’s Mya Burns led all players with 23 points, while Ja’nya Love Hill added 13. Simone James and Thaniya Marks tallied 10 points apiece. James and Tsubasa Nisbet led the Eagles with 7 rebounds apiece as Georgia Southern out-rebounded A-State 45-39. The Eagles shot 43.1 percent (28 of 65) from the floor and 74.2 percent (23 of 31) from the charity stripe, including 10 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles scored five of the game’s first seven points before A-State’s lone lead in the outing came midway through the quarter on a jumper by Kiayra Ellis. A 7-0 run put the Eagles ahead 14-8 before a Patton trey made it 18-15 late in the period. Georgia Southern led 21-15 after the first 10 minutes.

A Jackson layup knotted it up at 23-all to cap off an 8-2 run to open the second quarter, but the Eagles hit key shots down the stretch to own a five-point lead at halftime. A-State outscored Georgia Southern 22-21 in the quarter.

Georgia Southern managed to create some distance in the third quarter, leading by as much as 12 on a three by Daeja Holmes at the 1:08 mark that made it 65-53. After a Jade Upshaw corner three cut it back down to single digits, Love-Hill netted a jumper in the paint to give her team a 67-56 advantage entering the final quarter.

A lay-in by Lydia Freeman early in the fourth gave Georgia Southern its largest lead of the day at 69-56 but then A-State picked up the pressure defensively and began to battle back. Pendleton helped lead that charge with six points of a 13-2 stretch that made it a two-point contest with 2:50 to play. After a pair of Burns free throws made it 73-69, Mailyn Wilkerson found Patton in the corner off the inbounds for the three to make it 73-72 with 1:54 remaining.

That would be as close as it would get, however, as Georgia Southern closed on an 11-3 run that included eight free throws to close out the contest.

A-State returns home to host Louisiana at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, to open a four-game home stand. The Red Wolves were originally slated to ring in the new year at home against Georgia State on Saturday, but COVID-19 concerns within the GSU program caused the game in Jonesboro to be canceled.

Thursday’s game against the Ragin’ Cajuns will be broadcast on ESPN+, while the radio broadcast can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network flagship station 95.3/96.9 The Ticket/970 AM.

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LITTLE ROCK – In head coach Joe Foley’s 1,000th career game as a collegiate head coach, Little Rock women’s basketball pummeled Georgia Southern by a score of 92-52 to earn its 10th consecutive win on Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Trojans’ 92 points tied the program record for most points scored against a Sun Belt Conference opponent. Little Rock (13-8, 10-0 Sun Belt) last put up 92 at ULM last season. Little Rock’s 38 made field goals and 72 attempted field goals were the second-most in the Division I era (1999-present).

Ronjanae DeGray had herself a night with a game-high 21 points in addition to four rebounds and two steals in just 21 minutes. Tori Lasker scored all five of her buckets from beyond the arc as she finished with 15 points, three assists and two rebounds. Yanina Inkina finished with a career-high 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Monique Townson commanded the Trojans’ offense with eight assists in addition to six points, four rebounds and two steals. Little Rock ended the game shooting 38-for-72 (52.8%) from the field, 8-for-19 (42.1%) from three and 8-for-9 (88.9%) from the charity stripe.

The Eagles (4-17, 1-9 Sun Belt) also had three players in double figures. Nakol Franks led Georgia Southern with 13 points and two steals while Alexis Brown had 11 points. Hailey Dias-Allen was the third Eagle in double figures as she ended up with 10.

The Trojans took their largest lead of the game at 42 points with 2:16 left to play after Kira Shepard’s second three-pointer of the quarter. Shepard led the fourth quarter with six points and three assists as Little Rock shot 40 percent (8-for-20) from the field and 37.5 percent (3-for-8) from three. Of Little Rock’s 19 points in the fourth period, 17 came from the bench.

The already large lead moved to 35 points at the end of the third quarter as Little Rock took a 73-38 lead. The Trojans were 8-for-18 (44.4%) in the period as DeGray and Terrion Moore had four points each.

Little Rock ended the first half with 53 points — its most since scoring 54 against Louisiana in Jan. 2010. The 30-point first-half lead over the Eagles was the largest by the Trojans this season. Little Rock ended the half with three players in double figures as DeGray had 17, Lasker had 12 and Inkina had 10. The Trojans were 10-for-15 (66.7%) in the second period and were 22-for-34 (64.7%) in the first half.

Little Rock began the game with a 9-0 run and escalated the lead to 28-10 by quarter’s end. DeGray had 11 points and went 5-for-6 in the period. The Trojans shot 63.2 percent (12-for-19) from the field and were 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Fourteen of Little Rock’s 28 points in the quarter came from the Eagles’ seven turnovers.

Keanna Keys ended the game with nine points and six rebounds while Moore finished up with six points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Shepard ended up with six points and three assists, and Raeyana DeGray had six points with five rebounds. Teal Battle tallied four points and four assists while Anna Hurlburt finished with six rebounds, two points, two assists and two blocked shots. Kiara Scott had three points, and Sydney Chastain had two rebounds and an assist.

Little Rock will look to sweep the season series against Georgia State on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center.

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