ODU Men's Basketball Rally Comes Up Just Short in First Sun Belt Game in Three Decades

By Harry Minium
 
NORFOLK, VA. – Old Dominion's first Sun Belt Conference men's basketball game in 32 seasons wasn't a thing of beauty, at least not until the game's final four minutes, when the Monarchs nearly pulled off something of a miraculous comeback.
 
ODU trailed by 13 with four minutes to go in a game the Arkansas State led most of the way. The Monarchs then brought a Chartway Arena crowd of 4,464 to its feet by trimming the lead to two in the final seconds.
 
But ODU could not quite climb all the way back and succumbed to the Red Wolves, 60-57, on Thursday night. 
 
ODU rejoined the Sun Belt in July after leaving in 1991 to join the CAA and later, Conference USA.
 
The loss was the first at home for ODU (8-5 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt) and broke a four-game Monarch winning streak.
 
Arkansas State (9-5, 1-0) is bigger and played more physically than did the Monarchs on a night when the referees allowed a lot of banging inside the paint.
 
"Arkansas State came at us, and they were physical," ODU head coach Jeff Jones said. "They took the fight to us, and we blinked.
 
"We were a day late and a dollar short tonight and I think that was because of our aversion to contact. They came at us, and we didn't respond in the right way."
 
There's a critical difference in the intensity between non-conference and conference games and it showed in the first half that the Monarchs weren't ready to step things up a notch.
 
"It's not always a step up in terms of talent, but in terms of intensity, yes, it is a step up," Jones said.
 
"I think we saw that from Arkansas State from the opening tip. We didn't see that from Old Dominion" until the second half.
 
After taking their 13-point lead with 4:57 left, the Red Wolves slowed the game down to milk every second they could off the clock. But the change in tempo nearly backfired.

D'Angelo Stines came off the bench and made a three-pointer, Ben Stanley a free throw and Stines another three-pointer with 2:57 left to trim the margin to six, 55-49. 
 
Tyreek Scott-Grayson cut the lead to four with two free throws, then stole the ball at midcourt and made a driving layup to trim the lead to two with 55 seconds left.
 
But Arkansas State guard Avery Felts then made the biggest basket of the game, a driving layup with 33 seconds left that ended a 3 ½-minute Red Wolves scoring drought and forced ODU to foul to stop the clock.
 
Scott-Grayson cut the lead to two, 59-57, with six seconds left on a tip-in shot in which he dove on the court and somehow lofted it into the basket.
 
Arkansas State's Terrance Ford Jr. then made one of two free throws with three seconds left. He missed the second and the Monarchs rebounded but were unable to get off a final shot. 
 
ODU opened the game with its worst offensive firsthalf of the season, scoring 16 points after making just five of 27 shots (18.5 percent). 
 
ODU trailed, 29-16, at the half and it would have been much worse were it not for Scott-Grayson, who had 10 of his 16 points in the first half.
 
ODU led, 12-10, after a Chaunce Jenkins layup almost 10 minutes into the first half, and then the Monarchs went stone cold, going scoreless for seven minutes and 13 seconds.
 
Scott-Grayson broke the drought with a driving layup but by then, Arkansas State led by double digits. 
 
Jenkins had 12 points before fouling out late in the second half.
 
About a dozen of ODU's missed shots in the first half were layups or tip-ins that did not go in.
 
"It's pathetic for us to have 18 offensive rebounds and only nine second-chance points," Jones said. "It's not a right when you get an offensive rebound to put up a bad shot.
 
"You've got to be tougher, you've got to be smarter, be a better team player. You either put the ball in the basket or kick it out to somebody who's got a better chance."
 
ODU hosts Louisiana Saturday at 2 in its second Sun Belt game, and the Ragin' Cajuns were the preseason Sun Belt favorites and have the preseason Player of the Year in 6-foot-11 forward Jordan Brown.
 
"Brown is a big-time player," Jones said. "And Louisiana is a veteran team."
 
Louisiana opened Sun Belt play Thursday night with a 77-76 loss at Coastal Carolina.
 
Jones said his team will watch film and have a walk-through practice on Friday.
 
"I expect, after tonight, that our guys will be focused," he said. "Saturday there are going to be two teams that are going to be in a bad mood and really need to win."