Feb. 22, 2012
Final Stats
Lake Charles, La. - The Mavericks didn't cut down the nets Wednesday night at Burton Coliseum, but they took home a reward much more valuable than some nylon string.
The 2011-12 Southland Conference regular season championship now belongs to UT Arlington.
LaMarcus Reed scored 28 to lead UT Arlington to a 93-89 victory over McNeese State in a showdown between the top two teams in the Southland Conference. The Mavericks locked down the No. 1 seed in next month's league tournament in Katy, Texas.
Technically, it's a share of the SLC title and the Mavericks win the league outright with another win or McNeese loss. UTA plays host to Northwestern State on Saturday at College Park Center.
"Really proud of our guys for this," said UT Arlington coach Scott Cross, who became the third coach in UTA history with 100 career wins. "This was our goal. We wanted to win a conference championship. Now we have at least half of it guaranteed to us. If we win one more, we win it outright. I'm so proud of our guys for what they accomplished."
The Mavericks improved to 21-6, tying the school record for wins in a single season. More importantly, UTA is 13-0 in conference with three games left and owns the tiebreaker on McNeese. The Cowboys, who lead the East Division, dropped to 15-11 overall and 11-3 in the SLC.
"You don't know what this means," said Reed, a leading candidate for SLC Player of the Year. "We set this as our goal. I told Coach we wanted to get a conference championship before we leave and we did it.
The Mavericks wasted little time proving who was the league's best this season by opening as much as a 27-point lead in the opening half on the road. The second half was a different story, as McNeese engineered a furious rally to get within three points in the closing minutes.
Reed led the first half 3-point onslaught that buried McNeese and eventually ended the Cowboys' eight-game winning streak. The Mavericks drilled 8 from downtown in 14 attempts, with Reed knocking down 5 of 7.
The senior forward racked up 22 points by halftime, as UTA took a commanding 53-24 lead into the locker room. The Mavericks shot 61 percent in the first half, while limiting McNeese to 32 percent with a smothering defensive approached geared to slowing down Cowboys forward Patrick Richard.
Bo Ingram scored 10 of his 22 in the first half. Kevin Butler added 13 points, while Jordan Reves had 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Mavericks held a double-digit lead for most of the second half, but McNeese made things interesting down the stretch. The Cowboys closed the gap to 80-75 with less than four minutes left.
Reed answered with a 3-pointer, but the Cowboys kept coming. McNeese got within 86-83 with 1:26 to go.
Reed came back with a driving layup and the Mavericks weathered the storm. Reves' two free throws with less than five seconds left made sure UTA left Lake Charles as champions.
