CHANCELLOR’S CELEBRATION PEP RALLY
12:15 p.m. Friday, March 11
Donaghey Student Center – Fitness Center

Come celebrate the Trojans’ double victory at the Sun Belt Tournament Championship. Support your Trojans and send the players and coaches to the NCAA Big Dance! Wear Maroon!

UALR Trojans made history Tuesday as the men’s and women’s basketball teams swept the Sun Belt Conference tournament, becoming conference champions for the first time in the same tournament.

The women’s basketball team defeated WKU 66-59 at Summit Arena early in the day to win the 2011 Sun Belt Conference title for the first-time in school history and earn the Sun Belt’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Chastity Reed earned Most Outstanding Player, while Shanika Butler earned All-Tournament team honors.

“I think like last year you couldn’t ask for a better college basketball game,” said head coach Joe Foley. “You talk about two teams that are close. We shot 51 percent from the floor. Everybody was scoring. It had to be a great game to watch. I thought both teams fought tooth and nail. We were just fortunate at the end.”

Later that evening, Senior Solomon Bozeman hit a three pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining to lift the Trojans to a 64-63 win over North Texas (22-11) and give the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 1990. Bozeman’s three pointer helped UALR overcome a seven-point deficit with just 1:42 left in the game, helping the Trojans claim the school’s first-ever Sun Belt Tournament title.

Bozeman, the Sun Belt’s 2011 Player of the Year, scored a game-high 20 points off 6-of-12 shooting to earn the tournament’s Most Oustanding Player award. He averaged 22.0 points per game over UALR’s four Sun Belt Tournament wins, to lead the Trojans (the No. 5 seed out of the West) to the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance.

Bozeman is the first SBC men’s basketball player to win both the Player of the Year award and the Tournament MOP in the same year since WKU’s Chris Marcus in 2001.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, the five seniors in particular coming off the kind of year that we had last year,” said UALR head coach Steve Shields.

“I have said numerous times along the way, these guys have handled adversity in a very positive way. We have lost some close games and bounced back in practice with good energy, and that is the thing I am most proud of with this team. Not to get too philosophical, but the thing I think you learn from athletics is how to deal with adversity in a positive light, and I feel certain these guys will move forward and be very successful in life.”

Photos courtesy Nelson Chenault. Video courtesy KTHV.