LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Sophomore Rob Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored 12 points and had four rebounds, but the University of Denver men’s basketball fell 66-57 to Arkansas-Little Rock at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday night.

 

Junior guard Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) nearly got a double-double for Denver (10-13, 5-7 SBC), scoring 11 points and dishing out eight assists, while also pulling down a team-high five rebounds.

 

The Pioneers jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead with four points each by sophomore guard Kyle Lewis (Denver, Colo.) and freshman forward Justin Coughlin (Yuma, Colo.).

                                                                                                        

UALR (17-6, 10-2 SBC) came back to tie the game at 14-14 after a 7-2 run at the 11:05 mark in the first half.

 

In a back-and-forth first half in which the teams combined for 23 fouls, Denver shot just 36.4 percent on 8-of-23 and trailed 26-24 heading into the break.

 

UALR’s Steven Moore scored the first five points of the second half to extend the Trojans’ lead to seven before freshman guard Brian Stafford (Walnut Hills, Calif.) drilled a three-pointer for DU’s first bucket of the second half.

 

A 10-3 run by the Trojans put UALR up 43-32 with 13:28 remaining.

 

The Pioneers cut the deficit back to five points with 10:05 remaining after Stafford outscored the Trojans 8-2 over a two minutes stretch.

 

Six straight points by the Trojans pushed their lead back to 11 points at 59-48 with 3:49 left in the contest.

 

After a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Andrew Hooper (Lakewood, Colo.) and an alley-oop by Rob Lewis, DU trailed 59-53 with 2:25 remaining.

 

UALR’s Shane Edwards had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Steven Moore tied Edwards with a team-high 18 points.

 

The Pioneers next head to Florida Atlantic for a game against the Owls on Thursday at 5 p.m. MT.