Jan. 31, 2005

ARLINGTON - Junior forward Steven Thomas (Fort Worth, Texas) has been named the Southland Conference men's basketball player of the week after leading the Mavericks to back-to-back wins at Texas Hall last week, the league office announced today (Monday). This is Thomas' second honor in the last three weeks.

Thomas averaged 27.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 assists per game for the Mavericks in wins over Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State. He made 66.7 percent (18-of-27) of his shots from the field and 90.0 percent (18-of-20) from the foul line. Thomas moved into 24th place on the UTA all-time scoring list with 907 career points.

Thomas continues to lead the Southland in scoring and rebounding with 19.9 points per game and 9.1 rebounds. The Maverick is trying to become the first Southland player since 1994 (Eric Kubel of Northwestern State) to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding.

The junior is ranked seventh nationally in field goal percentage at 64.0 percent and is 26th in rebounding. He is also ranked in the top 50 (35th) in scoring at 19.9 points per game.

Texas-Arlington will return to action Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Texas State.

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