Box Score March 8, 2014
Final Stats
Photo Gallery
MOBILE, Alabama - UT Arlington heads into the Sun Belt Conference Championships as the sixth seed after Saturday night's 78-73 loss to South Alabama at the Mitchell Center.
The Mavericks will face UL-Monroe in the first round of the conference tourney, which begins Thursday in New Orleans. UT Arlington finished the regular season 14-16 overall and tied for fifth at 9-9 in its first Sun Belt season.
"You have to be ready to play every single game," UT Arlington coach Scott Cross said. "We're capable of beating anybody and by the same token we're capable of losing to anybody. We're just going to go down there and hopefully the guys will be ready to go.
"We've matched up pretty well against [ULM]. They have some capable scorers and play great defense."
The Mavericks and Jaguars were tied 54-54 with eight minutes to play. USA (11-20, 5-13) went on a 16-4 spurt to put the game away and drop UTA into a tie for fifth place in the league. UALR, also 9-9, had the tiebreaker over UTA and earned the No. 5 seed.
UTA senior forward Brandon Edwards scored a team-high 18 and pulled down eight rebounds. Junior center Anthony Walker had 10 points - his second-highest scoring game of the season - five rebounds and two blocks off the bench.
SBC leading scorer Reger Dowell struggled with a 2-17 shooting night and scored just 11. Junior guard Jamel Outler had 13 points off the bench.
"We had an off night offensively and we didn't have an answer for Augustine Rubit," Cross said. "He kicked our butt in the second half. That was the difference in the game."
Rubit had 18 points and 14 rebounds for USA. Jaguars guard Antoine Allen led all scorers with 24 points.
The Jaguars led for much of the first half and had as much as a seven-point advantage, but the Mavericks finished strong and went into the locker room up 30-29. Edwards' two free throws with five seconds left before intermission pushed UTA ahead.
Edwards had a team-high nine points and three boards at the break. Freshman forward Jorge Bilbao, making his eighth straight start, had six points and four boards. Walker had four points and three rebounds off the bench.
The Mavericks, shooting only 36 percent (9-25) in the first half, had their defense to thank for their halftime edge. USA converted only 10-35 shots (28.6 percent) through 20 minutes.
The Mavericks scored the first two points of the second half before USA ripped off a 12-0 run to lead 41-32, forcing a timeout from Cross. Outler ended the run with a 3-pointer out of the stoppage.
The Mavericks were down just 49-46 after Edwards' three-point play with 13:32 left. Dowell tied the game at 50-all with free throws at the 10:34 mark.
