Dec. 28, 2005
Final Stats
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Senior Steven Thomas posted 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead Texas-Arlington to a 83-66 victory over Radford, in the opening round of the Comcast Lobo Invitational Wednesday evening at The Pit.
"I think Steven is finally healthy after his injury versus Texas," UTA head coach Eddie McCarter said. "He came up big for us tonight. He hit the boards and made some key shots down the stretch."
In the second half, Radford (6-5) cut the Maverick lead to 58-49, with 10:26 remaining in the game. Whit Holcomb-Faye led the run with 14 points, which included three treys during the stretch.
The Highlanders kept the heat on, going on a 6-0 run keyed by a three-point play by Duane Ricks and three-pointer by Dan Ross to cut the Maverick lead to 58-55 with 9:36 remaining in the second half.
Texas-Arlington (7-5) ended the Highlander run, going on a 9-0 run in the next two minutes with sophomore Jermaine Griffin getting two layups and senior Jarrett Howell hitting a big three pointer to push the Mavericks lead to 67-55, with 7:11 remaining in the game.
Howell's steal and breakaway layup put the game away for the Mavericks, 79-64, with 52 seconds left in the game.
Howell led Texas-Arlington with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, which included four treys to go along with his five assists. Griffin finished with 18 points and four rebounds. The Mavericks had 24 assists on 28 made shots for the evening and shot over 50 percent from the field for the third straight game. This also happens to be the third straight victory for Texas-Arlington.
"We stressed getting the ball inside tonight and we did that," McCarter said. "Our shooting percentage has been great the last three games and that is because we are pounding it in the paint and running the fast break to get easy buckets."
Holcomb-Faye led the Highlanders with 23 points and four assists. Chris Oliver chipped in with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Radford turned the ball over 20 times and were held to only 36 percent shooting from the floor.
The Mavericks jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Texas-Arlington opened shooting 5-of-7 from the floor, led by senior Kenneth Henderson who tallied four points and two assists during the run.
Texas-Arlington increased its lead to 16-7 at the 11:35 mark of the first half, using a 6-3 run over the next four minutes. Griffin was huge on the inside registering six points.
Both teams held serve the next nine minutes with both teams scoring 13 points each to make the score, 29-20 with 2:49 remaining in the first half. Oliver was huge for the Highlanders with eight points, while freshman Anthony Vereen and Brandon Long came off the bench to combine for seven points for the Mavericks.
Mavericks ended the first half on a 10-5 run to take a 39-25 lead into the break. Thomas had a three-point play and treys by senior Brady Dawkins and sophomore Rodrick Epps helped Texas-Arlington to the 14-point halftime lead.
Griffin led all scorers at halftime with 10 points and Thomas added eight points for the Mavericks as they shot 50 percent from the field. They held Radford to 29 percent shooting in the first half.
The Mavericks will be back in action Thursday when they take on tournament-host New Mexico in the championship game of the Comcast Lobo Invitational. The Lobos defeated a resilient Dartmouth team, 66-60 in the other opening-round game. Tip-off is set for 8:15 MST.
