Izaiyah Nelson was still in his boot. The Trojans KK Robinson was not in the lineup (perhaps out for the season). The crowd packed the lower bowk and spilled into the upper racks. Press row was packed with guys, some of which had never attended a basketball game in Jonesboro. The 6’8″ A-State forward Rashaud Marshall was tasked with the tip, and the game commence, with Mwani Wilkinson scoring the cfirst points from the charity stripe. But a trey from Tayrn Todd and Derrian Ford, plus a slam dunk from Justin Johnson gave the Red Wolves an early 8-2 lead.

But the Red Wolves cooled, shooting just 24% and allowing the Trojans to chip away to a 14-11 lead. A Kobe Julien lay-up provided some relief, but UA Little Rock behind Wilkinson began vibrate their own atoms with hot shooting. At 6:30 the Trojans had a 22-18 lead, with both teams exchanging fouls like housewarming gifts, and both teams throwing elbows like yard jarts.

Joseph Pinion, previously 0-4 on some uncharacteristically ugly three-point shooting, finally broke off a pretty trey to give the Red Wolves a 25-22 lead, forcing the Trojans to call a TO. Todd followed it up with a nifty two beneath the basket, and the Red Wolves found their rhythm. At halftime, the Red Wolves held a 33-27 point lead over the OVC preseason favorite Trojans. Todd led Arkansas State with nine points and Marshall led with five boards. Wilkinson led the Trojans with 9.

The Red wolves opened the second half with a crescendo of of threes: two from Todd and two from D-Ford. At 16:30 on the clocks the Red Wolves led 47-33 and the crowd was roaring their approval. Time out, Trojans.

However, 6’11” Nikola Milosevic for Troy wasn’t conceding. Backed by Trojans inside chipping and a spate of Red Wolves misses, the big man drained a three to cut it to 49-43. Poor free throw shooting also plagued the Red Wolves, keeping the Trojans in the game. A three by Wilkinson nearly evened up the game, but a two from Cody Head kept the lead 53-49 with 11:27 on the clock.

By 8:48, the Red Wolves were slowly building a lead by drawing fouls and finally improving shooting from the gimme stripe. A three-pointer from Avery Felts was also useful.

After the game, Trojan head coach Darrel Walker wasn’t pleased with the UA Little Rock’s toughness. “We’re a soft team right now. No physicality.”

In the final ten minutes of the game, the Red Wolves simply proved too deep, overcoming 63% free throw shooting by getting hot at the three point line (13 made) and creating turnovers (17 on the Trojans versus just nine for Arkansas State). Final score, 80-63, with Todd and Julien putting up 17 and 16 points, and Pinion, Ford, Todd and Felts nailing three 3-pointers apiece. The Trojans’ Wilkinson led all scorers with 20 on 6/12 shooting.

“We got 20 offensive rebounds,” said Coach Hodgson. “That gave us the chance to win.”

“If I’m missing shots, Coach tells me shoot it again,” said Terrence Ford, who expressed his relief for finally getting back on the floor. T-Ford finished with seven points and four rebounds.

As for Izaiyah Nelson, who was seen at one point wandering onto the floor with an assistant needing to corral him back to the bench, is expected to be brought back slowly from his injury. “I wish we could put two boots on him to slow him down!” joked Coach Hodgson. “As good as he is, I think we can win games without him, so we’re going to do right by him. We’ll start easing him into things.”

PHOTO MINE

The Red Wolves Hard Hat Goes to Kobe Julien