Feb. 26, 2004
Box Score
NATCHITOCHES, La. - Texas-Arlington jumped out to an early 11-point lead and held off a Northwestern State rally to defeat the Demons 77-68 in a Southland Conference contest here Thursday afternoon.
The win was UTA's (14-11, 9-5) sixth straight and qualified them for the upcoming Southland Postseason Tournament, March 8-13. Northwestern State (10-14, 7-6) dropped its third straight game.
Derrick Obasohan led four Mavericks in double figures with 19 points. He moved into fourth place on the school's career scoring list with 1,243 points. Keith Howell scored 12 of his 17 points in the firts half. Steven Thomas came off the bench to sscore 11 and Donny Beacham added 10. Northwetern State was led by Jermaine Wallace with 16, 15 from Clifton lee and 12 by Byron Allen.
UTA went on an 11-2 run after Northwestern State opened the game with a Wallace 3-pointer. UTA built the lead to 20-9 after a Obasohan 3-pointer with 11:16 in the first half. The lead swelled to 14, 33-19, after an Obasohan jumper with 5:12 to play. The Mavs led 41-30 at half after shooting 53.6% (15-of-28) from the field.
In the second half, Northwestern State cut the lead to eight, 48-40, after a Lee layin with 15:11 to play. UTA went on a 16-5 run to put the game away. A Keith Howell jumper gave UTA a 64-45 lead with 8:51 left.
UTA scored 22 points off 14 Northwestern State turnovers in the game.
NOTES: UTA's six-game winning streak matches the longest streak in head coach Eddie McCarter's 12-year coaching tenure... McCarter can win his 150th career game at Nicholls State on Saturday... McCarter moved into fourth place on the Southland Conference's career wins list with the 73-64 win ove Texas State Feb. 21... Obasohan has led UTA in scoring in seven of the past eight games... Roy Johnson had a career-high five blocks and moved into second place in career blocks with 87.
Texas-Arlington 77, Northwestern State 68 Texas-Arlington (14-11, 9-5) - J. Howell 2-5 2-2 7, Beacham 4-8 2-4 10, Johnson 1-3 2-2 4, K. Howell 6-11 5-5 17, Obasohan 7-11 3-4 19, Dawkins 1-4 1-2 4, Hairfield 1-1 0-0 3, Floyd 1-3 0-0 2, Neukomm 0-0 0-0 0, Thomas 4-7 3-4 11. Totals: 272-53 18-23 77.
Northwestern State (10-14, 7-6) - Mitchell 1-7 1-2 4, Hancock 2-9 1-2 7, Wallace 7-13 0-0 16, Lee 5-11 4-4 15, Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Allen 3-6 6-8 12, Burch 0-1 0-0 0, Edwards 0-1 0-0 0, Ross 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 1-2 0-0 2, Bell 1-1 2-2 4, Dyer 1-3 0-0 2, Forges 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-64 14-18 68.
Halftime: UTA 41, NSU 30. Three-point field goals: UTA 5-14 (Obasohan 2-3, Hairfield 1-1, J. Howell 1-2, Dawkins 1-4, Floyd 0-1, K. Howell 0-1, Beacham 0-2), NSU 6-22 (Wallace 2-6, Hancock 2-7, Mitchell 1-3, Lee 1-4, Jones 0-1, Burch 0-1). Rebounds: UTA 34 (Obasohan 8), NSU 36 (Lee 8). Assists: UTA 13 (Johnson 4), NSU 18 (Mitchell and Wallace 6). Turnovers: UTA 15 (Obasohan 6), NSU 14 (Wallace 5). Blocks: UTA 6 (Johnson 5), NSU 6 (Dyer 3). Steals: UTA 8 (Thomas 3), NSU 10 (Jones, Mitchell, Lee 2). Total fouls: UTA 19, NSU 17. Fouled out: None. technical fouls: None. Att.: 1,100.
