Jan. 7, 2009
UTA-UT Pan American Box Score 
EDINBURG, Tx. - Wednesday's final non-conference game for the UTA men's basketball team turned into a rout as they defeated UT Pan American 76-51 in Edinburg.
UTA never trailed in the game and built a lead as large as 32 points toward the end of the game as the Mavericks easily posted their third consecutive road win for the first time since February of 2004.
The word for the night was "defense" for the Mavericks. UTA held the Broncs to just a 39.1% shooting night, forced 18 turnovers which it converted to 22 points and made 11 steals for the second consecutive game.
"This was by far our best defensive game of the season," said Mavericks head coach Scott Cross. "When our team plays good team defense like we did tonight we are pretty hard to beat."
The Mavericks took control of the game toward the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second 20 minutes. UTA held the Broncs scoreless for the final 1:27 of the first half and went to the break with a 36-27 advantage. The Mavs started the second half with a 7-0 run to increase the lead to 16 and didn't allow UTPA to score in the first 4:43 of the half.
"That was a key part of the game for us," said Cross. "We finished the first half with some good energy with some of the guys off the bench and that carried over into the first part of the second half."
The Mavericks bench contributed to the cause by scoring half of the team's points with 38.
Marquez Haynes led a group of four UT Arlington players in double figures with 16. Tommy Moffitt had 15 points and a team-high tying eight rebounds off the bench while Brandon Long added 13 and Roge'r Guignard had 12.
UTA shot 50% (30-of-60) from the field which marked the third consecutive game in which the team has accomplished this.
The game was the final non-conference contest of the season for the Mavericks who enter conference play at Texas State Saturday 7-6.
"When we put this long road trip together we were hoping this team would come together and learn to win on the road," said Cross. "I think they have come a long way in doing that as we have won four non-conference road games this season including the last three."
