LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Senior center Adam Tanner (Melbourne, Australia) scored 20 points, trying to help the University of Denver men’s basketball team overcome a 21-point deficit, but the Pioneers fell 66-55 to Arkansas-Little Rock on Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

 

“I liked the way we played the final 10 minutes of the game, but we need to play that way the entire 40 minutes, especially on the road,” head coach Joe Scott said. “The home team shoots better and plays harder because they’re at home, and that’s what happened tonight. UALR played well, and they won the game on the boards.”

 

UALR out-rebounded Denver 25-17, including 12 offensive boards.

 

“Tanner was very good tonight,” Scott said. “I hope the way he’s been playing shows the younger guys the way you need to play.”

 

UALR (18-10, 10-7 SBC) opened the second half on a 15-2 run, including eight points from guard Steven Moore, to give the Trojans a 53-32 advantage with 13 minutes left in the game.

 

Denver (11-16, 7-9 SBC) finally broke the stretch at the 10:51 mark on a pair of three-pointers from Nigel Peter-Denman (Seattle, Wash.), sparking a 10-0 DU run that cut the score to 53-42 with 6:46 left to play.

 

Following a layup by UALR forward Mike Smith, Peter-Denman hit another three-pointer to cut the deficit to 10 points with less than five minutes left. Peter-Denman scored 14 points, outdoing his previous career high of four points and going 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 beyond the arc.

 

Denver went on an 8-2 run, including a three-pointer by freshman guard Xander McNally (San Francisco, Calif.), to make it 59-53 with one minute remaining.

 

The Trojans sealed the victory with five free throws in the final minute.

 

Denver started the game strong, scoring the first six points and leading by as many as six points, but a 12-2 Trojan run put UALR up 21-16 with eight minutes remaining in the first half.

 

Back-to-back layups by Tanner and Rob Lewis brought the Pioneers back to within a point at 21-20.

 

A three-pointer by Tanner at the 7:00 mark put DU back on top, but UALR went on a 10-5 run to end the half and send the Trojans to the lockerrooms with a 37-30 lead.

 

Tanner led the Pioneers in the first half with 13 points, and Rob Lewis added eight points.

 

With the loss, the Pioneers are guaranteed the ninth seed, meaning they will travel to either New Orleans or Florida Atlantic for the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

 

Denver concludes the regular season against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. MT.