Final Stats

By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

TROY, Ala. - The UT Arlington Mavericks rolled to their eighth consecutive victory by storming back to beat Troy 90-63 on Thursday night at Trojan Arena.

The Mavericks improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in the Sun Belt by overcoming a double-digit deficit on the road for the second consecutive game. UTA's winning streak is the longest in four years.

Jalen Jones led the Mavs with a season-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 5-8 on 3-point attempts. The junior college transfer's previous best was 15 points in a win at Memphis earlier this season.

Kevin Hervey scored 22 and grabbed seven rebounds, while Jorge Bilbao had 10 points and 10 boards for his third career double-double. Erick Neal dished out five of UTA's 20 assists.

The Mavericks were in trouble early, falling behind by double figures as Troy came out hot from deep. The Trojans would take as much as a 15-point lead (29-14) by hitting 7 of their first 11 3-pointers.

UTA stormed back with a 3-point barrage that reversed the course of the game. The Mavericks would go into halftime leading 40-33 behind 15 points from Jones.

UT Arlington carried momentum into the second half with a 12-0 run right out of the gate. The Mavs would continue to pile it on, outscoring Troy by 40 (57-17) over a 20-minute span to take a 25-point lead (71-26).

Jordan Varnado led the Trojans (5-11, 0-5) with 19 points. Troy's Wesley Person, averaging a team-high 17.7 points coming in, was held to six.

Turning Point
UTA was down 29-15 when three consecutive 3-pointers from Hervey, Jones and Charles forced a Troy timeout with 5:30 left in the first half. Hervey hit another from beyond the arc after the stoppage and Jones followed with another 3 and was fouled. The four-point play put the finishing touches on a 17-0 run and left UTA up 31-29.

Key Stats
UTA outscored the Trojans 50-30 in the second half. ... Troy was held to 28.8-percent shooting. ... UTA held a 38-16 advantage in points in the paint. ... UTA made 13 of 24 3-pointers after missing 10 of its first 11 tries from outside the arc.

Notable
The Mavs were down 13 points in the first half last Thursday at Appalachian State before coming back to win 71-67. ... UTA is 13-2 for the first time in program history. ... UTA is 3-2 all-time against Troy. ... UTA is 6-2 on the road this season. ... Two of Bilbao's three career double-doubles are this season.

Up Next
The Mavericks remain in state for Saturday afternoon's visit to South Alabama, Tip is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. on KKGM 1630 AM.

Quotable
Scott Cross opening statement:
"Our guys really got in the trenches there the last 30 minutes of the game. It seems that's been a recurring theme with us, the last 30 minutes of the game had been good. We got loose, Jalen got hot and from there it was like the doors opened and our guys caught fire."

Cross on offense getting going:

"When we do the right things offensively - move the ball, play unselfish, those things happen. When we bounce the ball too much, play 1-on-1, try a little too hard to score individually, then we struggle as a team. The key with us is ball movement and player movement."

Jalen Jones on turnaround:

"We started playing with confidence and we got open shots. Once we calmed down and started running our offense and getting ball movement, we got open shots. We work on those every day and there's nothing to it but to knock them down."