Jan. 30, 2008
Final Stats
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Playing shorthanded Wednesday night against the Sam Houston Bearkats, UT Arlington men's basketball coach said the one thing his team could not afford was early foul trouble.
When Jermaine Griffin picked up his second foul in less than a minute, UTA was forced to scramble.
Despite an impressive performance by freshman reserve center Trey Parker and 22 points by forward Anthony Vereen, the Mavericks fell behind in the second half and couldn't make up the difference in a 73-57 loss at Johnson Coliseum. The Mavericks, playing in front of a regional television audience, had a four-game win streak snapped in the Southland Conference game.
UTA was playing without senior starting forward Larry Posey, who made the trip but did not play because of an undisclosed illness.
UTA (14-5, 4-3 in the SLC) played catch-up most of the second half - several runs cut an 11-point deficit to four points - and looked to have one last push at the 4:42 mark when they cut the Sam Houston lead to 54-49. But two costly turnovers and a Ryan Bright 3-pointer pushed Sam Houston (16-3, 4-2) back up by 10.
The Bearkats were led by senior guard Shamir McDaniel, who finished with 16 points.
UTA got five points, four rebounds and three blocks from Parker. But the Mavericks shot 32 percent from the field and were just 2-for-13 from the 3-point line.
Trailing by as many as 11 early in the second half and 32-41 at the 15:38 mark, UTA climbed back into the game with an 8-2 run. Rod Epps got it started with a reverse layup, and Tommy Moffitt scored on consecutive possessions to make it 42-38. Two Cardell Hunter free throws cut it to 42-40 with 12:52 left
Sam Houston extended its lead to 52-45 with 6:47 left on two McDaniel free throws and put the Mavericks in a deep hole with 5:21 left on a layup by Barkley Falkner. Between those two baskets, it appeared Anthony Vereen had scored and drawn a foul, but officials called Vereen for a charge - his fourth foul.
UTA opened the game by quieting the home crowd and impressing a regional television audience with its offense.
Taking advantage of the cold-shooting Bearkats, UTA turned a 6-5 lead into a 17-6 advantage at the 15-minute mark of the first half. In that spurt, Rog'er Guignard had a 3-pointer, a basket from the left baseline and one basket in transition.
From there, UTA would spend the rest of the first half struggling to shoot and trying to keep the Bearkats from taking advantage of Griffin sitting on the bench with two fouls and Posey not in the lineup.
Sam Houston State did it by getting hot shooting from reserve forward Reggie Rawlins.
A Rawlins fast-break basket made it 17-10. A dunk in transition by Rawlins two possessions later made it 17-14, and the Mavericks could only answer with missed baskets and turnovers. UTA finally put an end to the Bearkats run with a 3-point play by Vereen to make it 20-19 in favor of the Mavericks.
Epps followed with a 3-pointer, and UTA had regained control, 23-19 with 5:44 left.
Sam Houston State closed the first half by outscoring the Mavericks, 11-8.
The most costly stretch in the closing minutes came with 25.9 second left. Domas Kvedys put Sam Houston ahead, 32-27, with two free throws. Sam Houston stole the inbounds pass and scored to take the 34-27 halftime lead. It was the Bearkats biggest lead of the game to that point.
