Dec. 22, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas-Arlington shot a school-record 72.3 percent from the field and used a career-high 32 points from Steven Thomas to defeat Texas-Tyler 95-81 at Texas Hall Wednesday night.
UTA (5-3) made 17-of-21 field goals attempts in the second half (81.0 percent) and 34-of-47 field-goal attempts in the game to shatter the old school mark of 66.7 percent set twice, most recently on Jan. 10, 1981 in a 70-67 win against Valparaiso.
Thomas became the 40th player to score 30-or-more points in game and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Junior guard Jarrett Howell added 21 and freshman forward Jermaine Griffin scored 12.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Texas-Tyler (4-4). Michael Galloway and Brandon Weasby led the Patriots with 19 points each. Joe Henderson added 17 and Patrick Branche added 12.
UTA took a 42-41 halftime after a nip-and-tuck first half saw nine lead changes.
Thomas scored two of his 17 first-half points with a lay up before the buzzer for the 42-41 lead.
UT-Tyler took its only lead of the second half on a three-pointer by Weasby with 19:56 to play.
UTA used a 9-0 run early in the second half to break a 44-44 tie and take a 53-44 lead after a Griffin lay up with 16:34 to play. UTA's lead swelled to 15, 69-54, after a Rodrick Epps three-pointer with 10:42 remaining. But the Mavericks missed 19 free throws in the game and UTT whittled the lead down to three, 75-72, after a Joe Henderson lay in with 6:19 remaining. UTA made 10 of 12 free throws in the final 6:08 to seal the win.
UTA returns to action Wednesday when they travel to Tampa, Fla. to face South Florida. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. CT
NOTES: Steven Thomas became the 40th player to score 30-or-more points in a single game... Thomas was the last to reach the feat with 30 points against Texas-San Antonio on Jan. 10, 2004... Myles Guidry scored a career-high eight points... The win was the seventh straight win in December at Texas Hall and the 29th in the last 37 games in December... The 32-points and 11-rebounds mark the sixth double-double of Thomas' career... Howell recorded his third straight 20-point scoring game.
