March 2, 2005

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - Texas State secured a spot in the upcoming O'Reilly Auto Parts/SLC Men's Tournament by rallying from an 18-point first-half deficit to defeat Texas-Arlington 66-62 at Texas Hall Wednesday night.

Texas State (14-12, 8-7) won for the third time in four games while UTA (12-14, 6-9) dropped its third straight and must defeat Nicholls State in its regular season finale Friday to advance to the postseason tournament as the eighth seed.

Senior guard Josh Naylor scored 18 points and senior forward Anthony Dill added 17 to led Texas State. UTA was led in scoring by freshman guard Rodrick Epps with 13.

Texas State rallied from an 18-point, first-half deficit to tie the game at 40-40 after a free throw by Dill with 14:38 in the game.

UTA went on a 9-2 run to take a 49-42 edge after a Myles Guidry jumper with 8:39 to play. But TXST answered with a 14-4 run, making 6-of-6 free throws in the run to take a 56-53 lead after a Dill basket with 4:34 to play.

With the game tied at 62-62, TXST made four free throws in the final 1:03 - two by Dill and Naylor - to seal the win.

UTA its first four field goal attempts and its first five from 3-point range to take a 17-9 lead after a three-pointer from Rodrick Epps with 12:38 to play in the first half. The Mavericks stretched the lead to 18, 27-9, after a follow shot by Jermaine Griffin, a four-point play from Dawkins and a Kenneth Henderson layup with 9:07 to play in the half.

Texas State scored the final five points of the half to cut the lead to 36-28 after a Matt Canady jumper with 15 seconds remaining.

Texas State 66, Texas-Arlington 62

Texas State (14-12, 8-7)

Allison 3-8 1-1 7, Dill 5-8 7-9 17, Langhorne 3-5 3-3 9, Burroughs 1-2 0-2 2, Naylor 4-14 9-9 20, Oupoh 0-2 0-0 0, Canady 1-20-0 2, White 4-5 0-0 9. Totals: 21-46 20-24 66.

Texas-Arlington (12-14, 6-9)

Guidry 1-3 1-2 3, Thomas 3-7 3-4 9, Posey 2-4 1-2 5, Howell 3-8 0-0 8, Floyd 3-4 0-0 9, Dawkins 3-9 1-1 9, Griffin 1-1 0-3 2, Epps 4-7 2-2 13, Sauls 0-0 0-0 0, Neukomm 0-0 0-0 0, Henderson 2-5 0-0 4. Totals: 22-48 8-14 62.

Halftime: UTA 36, TXST 28. Three-point field goals: TXST 4-16 (Naylor 3-10, White 1-1, Oupoh 0-2, Allison 0-2, Burroughs 0-1), UTA 10-22 (Floyd 3-4, Epps 3-5, Howell 2-6, Dawkins 2-7). Rebounds: TXST 32 (White 6), UTA 26 (Griffin 5). Assists: TXST 11 (Naylor and Burroughs 3 each), UTA 15 (Howell 7). Turnovers: TXST 14 (oupoh and Langhorne 4), UTA 14 (Thomas 4). Blocks: TXST 4 (Allison, Dill, Naylor, Burroughs), UTA 6 (Guidry 3). Steals: TXST 3 (Dill 2), UTA 7 (Dawkins 3). Fouls: TXST 17, UTA 21. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: UTA bench (coach). Att.: .

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