ESPN Men's Basketball

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Will Neighbour had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Arkansas-Little Rock made a strong bid for a first-round bye in the Sun Belt Conference tournament after defeating Louisiana-Lafayette 77-68 Thursday night.

The Trojans (16-14, 10-9 Sun Belt), who snapped a four-game losing streak, began the night in fifth place in the conference standings. The top five seeds get opening-round byes.

Josh Hagins added 14 points, John Gillon and Ben Dillard had 13 apiece, and Leroy Isler scored 10 for Little Rock, which closes out the regular season at home Saturday against Arkansas State.

Louisiana-Lafayette (11-19, 7-12), which beat Little Rock 79-70 earlier this season, got 19 points from Shawn Long, 18 from Alan-Micha Thompson, 17 from Elfrid Payton and 13 from Bryant Mbamalu.

The Trojans shot 49 percent from the field and outrebounded the Ragin Cajuns 42-29.