Jan. 11, 2012
Final Stats
Arlington, Texas - UT Arlington coach Scott Cross recently said if the Mavericks could pitch a shutout, he'd take it.
For more than seven minutes Wednesday night at Texas Hall, they were doing just that. UTA rode its defense to a 66-40 Southland Conference victory over Sam Houston to run the Mavericks' winning streak to six games.
UTA is 10-5 overall and 3-0 in conference. The Mavericks last won their first three league game in 2002-03. The unbeaten streak is the longest since an eight-game run to open 2007-08. UTA reached the NCAA Tournament that season.
The first three conference foes have failed to score more than 55 points.
"This is by far the best defensive team I've had," said Scott Cross, who's in his sixth season as UT Arlington head coach. "I think all the guys are buying into what we're doing defensively. We have an intelligent team.
"We can run multiple defenses. If they score a bucket or two in one defense, we can change it up and try something different. Our guys really think out there and they play hard. Those are two things that help you win games."
LaMarcus Reed III drilled five 3-pointers and led the Mavericks with 15 points. Jordan Reves had 12 points and nine rebounds. Kevin Butler added 11 points and six boards.
The Bearcats (6-10, 0-2) didn't get their first bucket until the 12:18 mark of the first half. Sam Houston shot only 33.3 percent, the fourth consecutive UTA opponent not to reach at least 40 percent.
"Holding them to 40 points was definitely a bright spot," Cross said. "Jordan Reves did a nice job on the boards grabbing nine rebounds tonight. He almost had a double-double. It was probably LaMarcus Reed's best defensive performance. He did an unbelievable job on a very good player in Conner Tucker tonight. He was all over him."
Tucker was held scoreless, missing all five of his shots. He came into the game averaging 11.7 points.
The Mavericks own seven victories of at least 26 points this season. UTA is 7-1 at Texas Hall, with only one game remaining (Jan. 21 vs. Stephen F. Austin) in the facility. The Mavericks make their College Park Center debut Feb. 1 against UTSA.
The Mavericks smothered Sam Houston defensively for most of the first half. The Bearkats had only two points at the midpoint of the half.
Despite not shooting well, UTA was up 12-2 at the 10-minute mark. The Mavericks' lead reached 14 (24-10) before a somewhat sloppy end of the half.
Several turnovers by UTA led to transition opportunities for Sam Houston, which cut the deficit to 28-20 going into the halftime locker room. Reed knocked down three 3-pointers for nine points in the half. Demarcus Gatlin had 10 points for the Bearkats.
The Mavericks shot 39.3 percent from the floor in the first half. UTA didn't take full advantage of seven trips to the line, missing four free throws.
The Mavericks play their first road game of the conference season Saturday at Lamar.
