Dec. 8, 2015

Final Stats

By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan

ARLINGTON, Texas - Double-doubles from Kevin Hervey and Erick Neal powered UT Arlington men's basketball to a 97-61 victory over Bradley on Tuesday night at College Park Center.

The Mavericks (8-2) scored their highest point total of the season behind a season-high 53-point first half. At least four players scored in double-figures for the third-consecutive game.

Hervey grabbed his sixth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The reigning Sun Belt Student-Athlete of the Week also contributed four assists, two steals in a team-high 30 minutes and is the only Maverick to score in double figures in all 10 games this season.

Sophomore guard Erick Neal recorded UTA's first point-assist double-double since 2007 with 20 points and a career-high 10 assists. Neal had five rebounds and three steals.

UTA matched its best start since 2007-08. The Mavs earned their third-consecutive win against Bradley (1-9) and evened the all-time series at 3-3. UTA has clinched a winning conference record for the fourth time in the last five years.

UTA pressed hard on defense and forced six Bradley turnovers within the first seven minutes. The Mavs shot 6-of-12 from the field to lead 16-11 with 12:01 to play in the first half. A 20-6 run with four Maverick 3-pointers extended lead to 20 with less than five minutes on the clock in the first half.

UTA led Bradley 53-32 at the break, with 25 of the Mavs' points coming off of the Braves' 14 turnovers.

The Braves went more than four minutes without scoring early in the second half, as three consecutive 3-pointers from UTA pushed the lead to 69-40.

The Mavericks took their largest lead of the game with 1:45 to play in the second. Nathan Hawkins was fouled and sent to the charity stripe to up the advantage 96-54.

Key Stats
The Braves turned the ball over 24 times to UTA's seven. The Mavs stole twice as much as Bradley and found 36 points off of turnovers. The Mavericks shot 47.8 percent and 42.5 from the free throw line.

Notable
Hervey now has 405 career points. ... Cross needs two wins to become the program's all-time leader. He is 161-130 in his 10 seasons with UTA. ... The Mavericks are 84-33 in Arlington since 2007-08 and 4-0 this season. ... The Mavs are 5-1 when scoring at least 70 this season. ... Hawkins and Drew Charles broke their career highs with 17 points each. ... The Mavs' 17 3-pointers broke the program's single game record that stood since 1991 vs. Texas State. The record is tied for seventh in the nation for most treys in a game this season. ... Neal has UTA's 43rd 10-assist game in program history.

Up Next
UTA will play its final nonconference game of the season against Sul Ross State after a 12-day break. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21 at College Park Center. The Mavericks begin Sun Belt play Dec. 30 against Georgia State as part of a four-game homestand.

Quotable
Cross on Drew Charles shooting:
"I've been saying that all along. It's just a matter of time before he gets going and he's found his rhythm now. I think that's a big part of why we've had an offensive explosion over the last couple of games. This is the way I envisioned us paying offensively. It's hard to be great offensively and defensively in the same game. We did do some very good things defensively. We were able to turn them over with our pressure, which was good. They probably got a few too many rebounds for me and shot a little bit higher percentage, but hey you can't have everything."

Cross on UTA's offensive depth:
"We have a lot of guys that can shoot it, that's what I've said for a long time now and basically everybody, even Nick and Jorge are capable of shooting 3s. We don't really want them to shoot 3s because one through we want them in the basket, but I do have confidence in all of our guys shooting the ball."

Hawkins on playing off the ball:
"That's my natural position, but I can play the one if the coach needs me. I'm down to do whatever the team needs, but it's nice to be back in my natural position."

Hawkins on 3-point record:
"I had no idea. That's awesome. I give credit to our point guards and all of our teammates moving the ball, being unselfish, finding open guys and being supportive on the bench, telling us to keep shooting it. It's a real good team effort."