March 8, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas-Arlington forward Donny Beacham poured in 23 points and the Mavericks knocked down a season-high eight 3-pointer to defeat Louisiana-Monroe 77-62 in the opening round of the Southland Conference Postseason Tournament at Texas Hall Monday night.
The top-seed Mavericks (17-11), who won a school-record ninth straight game, advance to the tournament semifinals to play No. 4 seed Stephen F. Austin Wednesday at 7 p.m. Louisiana-Monroe ends its season 12-19.
Keith Howell added 15 points and Brady Dawkins chipped in 10 for UTA. ULM was led in scoring by Tony Helton's 15 and Brandon Horn with 11.
"I thought we came our with good intensity," said UTA coach Eddie McCarter. "We played aggressive defense and were able to hit some shots to loosen up their zone defense."
Beacham scored UTA's first eight points and 13 of the Mavericks' first 24 points to take a 24-5 lead after a Beacham layup with 10:35 to play in the first half.
ULM, who had rallied from double-digit deficits twice this season to beat UTA, could get no closer than 15 in the second half as the Mavericks converted 23-of-28 free throws in the game and committed just 10 turnovers.
NOTES: The win was the first playoff win at Texas Hall in school history... The 17 wins are the most in a season since 1990-91...
Texas-Arlington 77, Louisiana-Monroe 62 La.-Monroe (12-19) - Parker 3-8 1-2 8, Gay 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 4-6 0-1 8, Horn 4-10 0-0 11, Keith 1-2 0-0 2, Andrews 1-8 3-6 5, Branch 0-0 0-0 0, Helton 5-10 2-2 14, Bransom 0-0 1-2 1, Ciszkiewicz 0-1 0-0 0, Jacobs 4-8 0-0 8, Alexander 1-4 3-4 5. Totals: 23-58 10-17 62.
Texas-Arlington (17-11) - Beacham 7-8 5-6 23, Obasohan 2-6 2-2 6, Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, K. Howell 4-7 7-7 15, J. Howell 2-3 0-0 4, Dawkins 3-5 1-2 10, Hairfield 0-0 0-0 0, Floyd 1-3 0-0 3, James 0-1 0-0 0, Neukomm 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 2-4 3-5 7, Henderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-47 23-28 77.
Halftime: UTA 42, ULM 22. Three-point field goals: ULM 6-25 (Horn 3-8, Helton 2-7, Parker 1-1, Ciszkiewicz 0-1 , Keith 0-1, Jacobs 0-3, Andrews 0-4), UTA 8-13 (Beacham 4-4, Dawkins 3-5, Floyd 1-2, J. Howell 0-2). Rebounds: ULM 31 (Bransom 5), UTA 35 (K. Howell 9). Assists: ULM 7 (Parker 2), UTA 17 (J. Howell 6). Turnovers: ULM 11 (Horn, Andrews, Bransom 2 each), UTA 10 (Thomas, Beacham, Johnson 2). Blocks: ULM 2 (Alexander, Helton 1), UTA 1 (Obasohan). Steals: ULM 5 (five with one), UTA 6 (K. Howell 2). Total fouls: ULM 19, UTA 15. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Att.: 1,343.
