Jan. 22, 2005
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas-Arlington used a 23-8 run midway through the game to rally from an 11-point deficit and then scored the final five points in overtime to defeat Louisiana-Monroe 80-76 in Southland Conference men's basketball action at Texas Hall Saturday afternoon.
UTA (8-8, 3-3) got 31 points from junior forward Steven Thomas. Kenneth Henderson scored a career-high 14 points and freshman guard Rodrick Epps added 12. Louisiana-Monroe (6-10, 0-5) was led in scoring by Cecil Hood's 19 points. Daryl Mason chipped in 17, DeAndre Alexander had 13 and Aaron Branch added 12.
UTA built an eight-point lead in the second half on two occasions, the last on two Henderson free throws with 7:36 to play, 59-51. But the Mavs almost squandered the win by missing four free throws in the final 2:19 of the game before the team's ended regulation tied 69-69.
"We are a young team and we are still learning that when you build a lead like we had in the second half you need to work the clock and be selective with your shots," said head coach Eddie McCarter. "I thought we had some people come off the bench and give us a real spark offensively. I thought we did a better job of cutting down turnovers and converting on each possession tonight and that was the key to the win."
UTA led 67-62 with 3:26 left in regulation after two Henderson free throws but went 0-for-5 from the field and 2-of-6 at the free throw line down the stretch. ULM's Cecil Hood scored four straight points, a dunk by Mason and a free throw with 1:16 to play tied the game at 69-69 and forced overtime.
In overtime, ULM took the lead on a jumper by Adrian Harper with 3:55 remaining. Thomas tied the game 22 seconds later on a pair of free throws.
UTA's Stephen Floyd stole the ball from Darien Bynum and converted the layup for a 73-71 lead with 2:57 remaining. Both teams traded baskets until UTA took the lead for good on a Thomas layup with 46 seconds to play, 77-76.
ULM jumped out to 10-1 lead to begin the game after an Adrian Branch three-pointer with 16:48 left in first half. The lead balloned to 11, 26-15, on a DeAndre Alexander layup with 6:46 left in the half before UTA began whittling away at the lead. The Mavericks outscored ULM 16-9 to end the half and cut the Indian lead to 35-31 after an Epps three-pointer at the buzzer.
NOTES: UTA played in its first overtime game since March 7, 2003 when the Mavericks defeated ULM in double overtime, 85-84... UTA improves to 5-2 at Texas Hall this season... The crowd of 1,078 was the largest home crowd of the season... UTA tied a season low with 13 turnovers... Head coach Eddie McCarter moves into a second place on the Southland Conference wins list with 160 career wins at UTA.... Thomas inched closer to the top 25 in career scoring with 853 career points. He needs 31 points to break into the top 25 all-time at UTA and 147 to become the 17th player in the program's history to score 1,000 career points... Epps notched his third straight double-figure scoring game... The 26 bench points were the most since 33 at Texas on Dec. 15, 2004.
- utamavs.com -
