Jan. 26, 2005

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas-Arlington junior Steven Thomas scored 18 of his game-high 24 points to lead Texas-Arlington to a 62-55 victory over Stephen F. Austin in Southland Conference men's basketball Wednesday night at Texas Hall.

Thomas, the SLC's top scorer, led UTA with 24 points. Freshman guard Rodrick Epps added 11 points for the Mavericks.

Stephen F. Austin (9-8, 3-3) was led in scoring by Hank Rivers with 15. Anthony Paez added 13 and Josh Porter chipped in 10.

UTA (9-8, 4-3), who allowed 74.5 points per game going into the game, allowed its fewest points in a game this season. The Mavs kept SFA off-balance as the Lumberjacks shot a season-low 30.9 percent (21 of 68) from the field. SFA guard Marcus Clark, who averaged 20.6 points per game in SLC play, was held scoreless on 0-for-9 field goal shooting.

The Mavericks relied on Thomas and its half-court game in the second half to wear down SFA.

Both teams battled on even terms in the first half. Neither team led by more than four points until UTA went on a 5-0 run late in the half on a jumper by Brady Dawkins and a three-pointer by Epps to give the Mavericks a 25-18 edge with 1:28 to play in the half. A three-pointer by SFA's Porter and a layup by Rivers cut the lead to 27-23 at halftime.

NOTES: UTA improves to 6-2 at Texas Hall this season... The crowd of 1,333 was the largest home crowd of the season... UTA recorded a season-high nine blocked shots... Head coach Eddie McCarter moves into sole a second place on the Southland Conference wins list with 161 career wins at UTA.... Thomas inched closer to the top 25 in career scoring with 877 career points. He needs seven points to break into the top 25 all-time at UTA and 123 to become the 17th player in the program's history to score 1,000 career points... Epps notched his fourth straight double-figure scoring game.

- utamavs.com -