Nov. 25, 2008

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ARLINGTON, Texas - Brandon Long scored 19 points to lead five UT Arlington players in double figures as the Mavericks defeated UT Tyler 99-67 Tuesday.

After leading by 15 at the half, the Mavericks stepped up their defense in the second half to pull away from the Patriots in the second half to improve to 3-1. "We were not very good defensively in the first half," said UT Arlington head coach Scott Cross. "We played much better in the second half and that was more like I thought we would play."

UTA took advantage of 16 UT Tyler turnovers as they converted that to 29 points. On the offensive end, the Mavericks turned the ball over a season-low seven times. "It was a fast paced game," said Long. "In the first half we really didn't play good defense but I thought we got back to playing our game in the second half."

UT Tyler cut the lead to 10 with 14 minutes remaining at 58-48 before the Mavericks went on a 30-15 run over the next 10 minutes to seal the game.

"We didn't play rushed tonight," said Marquez Haynes who had 17 points. "It was still a fast game but when we didn't have the shot we wanted we pulled the ball back out and ran offense."

The Mavericks shot 50.7% from the field (36-of-71) and made 17-of-20 free throws. After allowing UT Tyler to shot 55.2% in the first half, the Mavericks defense held the Patriots to just 42.9% from the field in the second half.

Anthony Vereen and Roge'r Guignard each added 15 for UTA while Tommy Moffitt had 10 points and led the team with eight rebounds.

"We have a long road trip ahead of us," said Cross. "It was good to get a win where we were able to pull away at the end. Hopefully this will give us some confidence as we start this trip."

The Mavericks are now 3-1 and play at Houston Baptist Saturday. UT Tyler drops to 0-4.