Feb. 3, 2010
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Final Stats
By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com
ARLINGTON - Texas - Trey Parker only played 12 minutes Wednesday night. But boy, those were 12 big minutes.
Parker, junior forward, only had two points and four rebounds - but down the stretch made all the impact plays on defense to help UT Arlington lock up a 71-66 overtime victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Texas Hall.
"Treys that guy - a defensive stopper," coach Scott Cross said. "His ability to change shots and block shots just makes a huge impact."
In a back and forth game where neither team led by more than five points, Parker made his presence felt in the final two minutes of overtime.
Senior guard Brandon Long had just knocked down a three pointer to give UTA a 69-66 lead. Parker then took a charge and blocked a shot on the Maverick's next two defensive possessions, still nursing a three-point lead both times.
Cross said he almost considered taking Parker out to help match up against the Islanders ball screens. Easy to say he made the right choice.
"At the end of the game I was actually going to put a smaller guy in there so we could switch on everything," Cross said. "Trey was like `no coach I got it.' I like a guy like that."
It was fitting the game was decided on defensive plays, because rough defense was played all night. Senior guard Marquez Haynes and Islander junior forward Kevin Palmer were one and two in the Southland conference in scoring, respectively, heading into tonight.
While both scored in double figures, both were held under their averages. Palmer scored 16, while Haynes scored 20. The difference however was Haynes ability to get to the line. Haynes went 8-for-9 from the free throw line while Palmer only went 4-for-8.
"We just have to be in attack mode," Haynes said. "Some teams if they're denying hard, the driving lanes are open."
The Mavericks attacked those lanes a majority of the night. UTA (11-9, 3-4) went 25-for-35 from the free throw line, outscoring TAMUCC (11-10, 5-2) by 10 points at the line.
But while Haynes and other Mavs were attacking the rim, Long was the one doing damage from the outside. Long knocked down two huge three pointers in overtime, including the game winner, to go along with his 19 points to compliment Haynes.
After going 0-for-16 from three during a four game stretch, Long is now 12-for-23 (53 percent) over his last three games.
"Just seeing some results finally," Long said. "I've just been shooting and shooting. Trying to figure out what am I doing wrong. It's just paying off now."
The final payoff came with 2:08 left in overtime. UTA had been running a play to curl Long to the corner a couple of times throughout the night. Long has multiple options to pass, shoot or drive on the catch.
This time he let it rip from the corner and found nothing but net as the shot didn't touch the rim.
"I have a lot of choices when I come off," Long said. "The last time I came off I said to myself if I have an once of daylight I'm going to shoot it and it went in."
With Long back on board and contributing, Cross said he is seeing his team transform into their potential. The three game winning streak ties UTA's longest of the year.
"We're really starting to transform into the team that I kind of envisioned," Cross said. "Tough, hard-nosed, blue collar sort of team."
