LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – SIUE men's basketball won its third consecutive game, knocking off Little Rock 71-61 Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center.
It is the second three-game winning streak this season for the Cougars who have won six of their last seven games overall. SIUE improved to 9-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 16-9 overall. The Cougars are in a four-way tie for third place in the league.
SIUE also improved to 8-5 in true road games to establish a new program record for road wins at the Division I level.
Little Rock dropped to 9-16 overall and 6-8 in the OVC.
The Cougars limited Little Rock to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, while holding a double-digit lead for much of the period.
SIUE led 14-10 before pulling away with a 13-0 run. The Cougars led 27-10 after a three-pointer by Tyler King. Following a Little Rock bucket, King hit a jumper and followed with another three, to push the run to 18-2 overall and push the SIUE advantage to 32-12 with 3:28 to play in the half.
The Trojans used an 11-1 run to end the half to pull within 10 and SIUE led 33-23 at the break.
The Cougars hit four of their first six shots to open the second half and had the lead back to 15 (43-28) at the first media timeout in the second half.
Little Rock used a 9-0 run to get to get back to within six at 43-37 with 10:10, but that is as close as the Trojans would come.
A technical foul was assessed to Little Rock's Jonathan Lawson and Jack Campion hit both free throws to make it 59-49 SIUE with 4:43 left. Little Rock never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Campion finished within striking distance of a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. King led the Cougars with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Darrion Baker scored 12 points and added six rebounds.
SIUE shot 50 percent in the second half and 46 percent (25-55) for the game.
Little Rock shot 33 percent (23-70) from the field. Lawson scored 18 points to lead Trojans.
The Cougars return home for the next two games. SIUE will play host to UT Martin Thursday for a 7:30 contest at First Community Arena.
