March 5, 2011

Final Stats

Arlington, Tex. - The UT Arlington men's basketball team knew it had a chance to go to the Southland Conference Tournament before they tipped off Saturday night.

And it seemed like they would punch their ticket as they jumped out to a 10-point halftime lead, but it was not to be as UTSA erased that deficit and defeated the Mavericks 68-63 at Texas Hall.

UTSA's Melvin Johnson scored seven quick points at the start of the second half and finished the game making four free throws to seal the victory. His efforts helped UTSA shoot 54% in the second half after making just 8-of-24 in the first half.

"Our defense just didn't play in the second half like they did in the first half," UTA head coach Scott Cross said. "We became too passive and they took advantage of it."

UT Arlington went on a 26-6 run over the final 12 minutes of the first half to hold that 10-point lead.

The Mavericks held on to the lead for most of the second half until Sei Paye made a three-pointer with 7:39 to play to give UTSA its first lead since early in the first half.

The teams traded points for the next six minutes before Paye drilled another three-pointer with 1:47 remaining for a four-point lead and the Mavericks could get no closer than two the remainder of the game.

Darius Richardson led UT Arlington with a career-high 19 points while LaMarcus Reed had 14 and Cameron Catlett added 12.

Johnson led three UTSA players in double figures as Devin Gibson added 17 and Jeromie Hill had 16. Hill added a game-high eight rebounds.