Jan. 21, 2016

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan

ARLINGTON, Texas - Three Mavericks accomplished double-doubles and five scored in double figures in UT Arlington's 91-64 victory over Arkansas State on Thursday night at College Park Center.

UTA is undefeated at College Park Center this season (8-0) and off to its best start in school history (14-3). The Mavs are 5-1 in the Sun Belt for the first time in their three-year tenure in the league.

Kennedy Eubanks made his first career start for the Mavericks in place of Kevin Hervey, and seized the opportunity with a double-double on a career-high 23 points (7-14 shooting) and 11 rebounds, with three steals.

Kaelon Wilson contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds. Jorge Bilbao added 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Erick Neal had 19 points and six assists, and Jalen Jones scored 14.

The Mavericks' aggressive defense came at a price of two fouls that contributed to an opening 8-0 run for the Red Wolves. UTA settled down and found a rhythm as a layup from Jalen Jones with 16:35 to play ignited a dominating 34-5 run.

Kennedy Eubanks contributed four rebounds and 10 points during the streak, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Mavs forced nine Arkansas State (9-9, 5-2) turnovers that turned into 15 points.

Eubanks' hot hand kept the Maverick rally going into the second half as a pair of 3-pointers stretched their lead to 51-28. Neal and Wilson recovered four team turnovers with two more 3-pointers and just over 13 minutes to play.

The Mavs rattled College Park Center late in the half when back-to-back steals turned into two dunks by Wilson and Eubanks. UTA kept running and pushed the lead past 30.

Turning Point
Arkansas State opened the first half on an 8-0 run that UTA would use as fuel for 15-0 run.

Key Stats
The Mavericks stole 19 points off of 14 Arkansas State turnovers. UTA shot 40.3 percent from the field and 41.7 from 3-point range. The Mavs held the Red Wolves to 33.3 percent shooting.

Notable
Hervey missed his first game of the season due to a knee injury. ... Kennedy Eubanks made his first start for the Mavs this season with a career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. ... UTA's 14-3 start is the best in school history. Mavs are 5-1 in the Sun Belt for the first time ever. ... Mavericks are 2-3 vs. Arkansas State as Sun Belt foes. ... Mavs have won 10 games by double-digits this year. ... Attendance reached 3,111, CPC's third largest crowd of the season and 11th highest in history.

Up Next
The Mavericks return to CPC on Saturday to face Little Rock at 7:15 p.m. before a five-game road trip.

Quotable
Scott Cross opening statement:
"Kennedy was awesome. He was due for a game. He really played well in our last game."

Cross on team depth:
"I've been telling you guys for a long this team has depth and a lot of character. A lot of these guys have been coming off the bench and the way they are shooting, they could be starting at other places. First of all, I definitely give thanks to the man above for this win. It was a great all around victory. Our team played extremely hard and they played with a lot of guts and grit tonight."

"We played super unselfish and then Jorge, that guy is the toughest guy I think I've ever coached and that's saying a lot because I have coached some really tough guys here. He plays his heart out every single possession. The fact that Kaelon came in, he gave us a huge energy boost. For him to get a double-double in the 20 minutes he played, that's special. Kennedy getting his first double-double of the season, that's awesome."

Cross on being locked in defensively:
"We were. I think even in the first half down the stretch there we let Carter get loose. He's a dynamic scorer."

Jorge Bilbao on the game:
"It was a great game. We started out within Kevin which is a very big loss for us. He is one of our leaders. We just came out playing as hard as we could and playing as a team. That's what we like to do. Together we played as a team. We played really good defense. I am really proud of the team and what we did tonight."

Bilbao on Kennedy Eubanks:
"That was great. We know Kennedy's a great player. He has a tough role right now because he's behind another great player. That's good and bad at the same time because we have a great team this year and anybody can go off on any night. It was great for us. He stepped up to the challenge and played his heart out. He had an unbelievable night for us."

Kennedy Eubanks on the game:
"All season coach has been telling us to move the ball around and that's what we did. We came out with a big win."

"Jorge has been tough for us all season. He brought it again this game and came out with a double-double. I think we had three Kaelon, Jorge and myself."

"All week we have been talking about defense. We went back to our roots. Coach Cross is defensive minded so that's what we did, stay down and guarded and came out with a 30 point win."