Nov. 14, 2015

Final Stats

Photo Gallery

By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan

ARLINGTON, Texas - It all came down to the final seconds, but the UT Arlington men's basketball team pulled off a thrilling season-opening 77-72 win against Fordham on Saturday night at College Park Center.

UT Arlington coach Scott Cross is now 9-1 in both home and season openers, and the Mavericks improved to 39-18 in openers in Arlington. UTA moved to 1-0 after its first-ever meeting with the Rams.

The Mavericks' shooting was hot out of the gate, as they led Fordham 8-3 less than three minutes into the first half. Sophomore Kevin Hervey followed a 3-pointer with the team's first dunk of the season.

Two turnovers in a row allowed the Rams to jump back in it 16-15 with a 9-2 run. Junior Faith Pope entered the game and made an immediate impact with eight points, shooting 3-3 from the field and 2-2 beyond the arc in six minutes. UTA held its largest lead of the half at 14 points with 2:10 to play and sustained momentum to keep a 39-26 advantage at halftime.

Fordham opened the second half on a 15-5 run with three straight 3-pointers, two from Rams' guard John Severe, to close in on the Mavs 49-45. Sophomore Nathan Hawkins extended UTA's lead to 10 with his second 3-point attempt of the half.

A foul on Fordham guard Antwoine Anderson sent junior Jorge Bilbao to the free throw line with 8:45 left and with two shots gave the Mavericks its largest lead of the night, 63-48.

The Rams' 8-0 run with less than six minutes in the game cut into UTA's lead and the visitors eventually came within one. Pope forced a game-changing turnover with a diving effort to snag the ball away from Fordham. The steal sent UTA into a timeout with a chance to catch its breath, up by one with 1:51 to play in the game. The Mavs would continue on a 6-2 run until time ran out.

Fordham's ninth team foul and three free shots for sophomore Erick Neal sealed the win for the Mavericks.

Player of the Game
Pope was an efficient 5-6 from the field and 2-2 beyond the arc for a team-high 14 points in 19 minutes in his debut for the Mavericks. The junior also contributed three offensive rebounds with two steals and a block.

Stat Leaders
Junior Jalen Jones was tough in the paint and led the Mavs with seven rebounds, five on defense, to go with his 11 points. Hawkins matched a game-high five assists. Hervey notched a team second-best 12 points with 5-12 from the field in 24 minutes.

Key Stats of the Game
UTA shot 53.3 percent in the first half to Fordham's 37 percent, but was slowed in the second, shooting 12-35 while the Rams hit 17-34. The Mavericks were dominant in the paint with 36 points. Fordham handled the ball carelessly with 17 turnovers. Four Maverick players finished with double-digit points.

Home Sweet Home

A Homecoming crowd of 3,868 brought a lot of noise and energy to College Park Center, especially in tight game situations. The pack marked the ninth-largest athletic event crowd in CPC history.

Quotable
UT Arlington coach Scott Cross' opening statement:
"That was a great first win for our guys. I'm really proud of them. It came down to doing the little things that we preach every day in practice. Every single day, we roll the ball. The biggest possession was when Faith dove on the floor and grabbed that loose ball and called a timeout. That was where the game was won right there."

Cross on the large crowd:
"It was awesome and nerve-racking at the same time. I'm thankful now that it was a great crowd and we were able to pull it out, so hopefully they'll come out and support us and the women because it does make a difference. You could point to Faith's possession, but you could also point to the crowd. If we had a bad crowd tonight, we probably wouldn't have won that game"

Faith Pope on his late steal:
"Coach is always saying to hustle and be aggressive. I just saw a loose ball and took advantage. It was huge. It was a really big game changer."

Jalen Jones on rebounding:
"I saw that they weren't really blocking out, so there were a lot of opportunities to get offensive boards, so I felt like I could help my team that way. I'm a big, physical guard and I like to get rebounds, so I felt that my role tonight was to do that."

Up Next
The Mavericks open up a three-game road stand beginning with Louisiana Tech on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. UTA will quickly face a pair of tough opponents in Ohio State (Nov. 20) and Memphis (Nov. 23).