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DU Can't Hold Lead, Bounced From Sun-Belt Tourney

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Mar 8, 2009 7:45 pm US/Mountain

DU Can't Hold Lead, Bounced From Sun-Belt Tourney

Pioneers 14 Point Lead Dissolves, Trojans Win By 3

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) ―

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Denver coach Joe Scott said he didn't want to let John Fowler beat his team in Sunday's quarterfinal of the Sun Belt Tournament. The plan worked for 38 1/2 minutes.

The senior forward hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 1:29 -- his only points of the game -- as Arkansas-Little Rock overcame a 14-point, second-half deficit to beat the Pioneers 58-55. Fowler's shot with 27 seconds left won the game.

The Trojans (23-7) will play South Alabama in a Monday semifinal.

"Fowler's really started to shoot the ball more and become more of a 3-point shooter," Scott said. "We didn't want to give him any 3s; treat him like a 3-point shooter. It worked until the end. Give them credit for making the shots when they had to."

Arkansas-Little Rock trailed 42-28 with 17:53 left but patiently wore down the Pioneers (15-16) with an occasional press and outstanding rebounding. Denver had only two offensive rebounds, none when the game was on the line.

"We knew we were going to win it on the defensive end," said Shane Edwards, who led his team with 21 points and eight rebounds. "It took us awhile to get a bucket to either tie the game or get ahead. We knew all the confidence in what we were going to do started on defense."

After turning up the pressure, UALR rattled Denver into 10 second-half turnovers -- twice as many as UALR after halftime.

"I felt like we struggled in the first half and they were able to go where they wanted," UALR coach Steve Shields said. `We wanted to get in the situation, if we could, of being efficient on the offensive end and getting in our press."

Matt Mouzy had two 3s that cut Denver's lead to 42-36 and Edwards scored six points during a 22-8 run that knotted the game at 50 with 6:50 left. Rob Lewis later pushed Denver's lead to 55-52 with 2:07 left with a shot high off the backboard.

With 1:53 left, UALR's Brandon Patterson missed the front end of a one-and-one chance that would have given the Trojans their first lead since an 11-10 lead eight minutes into the game, but Mike Smith pulled down the rebound for the Trojans. Fowler tied the game seconds later.

Andrew Hooper missed a 3-point try for Denver and after Fowler's game-winner Nate Rohnert missed two 3-point tries in the final eight seconds.

Lewis had scored Denver's first 15 points as the Pioneers took an early 21-11 lead. As the UALR defense collapsed to prevent back door passes, Lewis was open on the wings and was wide open for many shots.

"If they're going to do that, we should have our second and third options open," said Lewis, who was 10-of-11 from the floor and finished with 27 points.

Denver had no seniors on its team, while Little Rock started three.

"They did what they had to do, and we came about this close to what we had to do," Scott said, holding a finger and thumb close together. "We couldn't get a rebound on a missed foul shot. We had the lead (nearly) all of the game. They had it at the most important time of the game, when the buzzer went off."