Box Score Nov. 12, 2016
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Led by a 23-point effort from senior Jalen Jones, UT Arlington posted a hectic 89-82 win over Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason favorite Texas Southern in its season lidlifter Saturday.
A signature event for the school's annual homecoming weekend, a crowd of 4,532 - the ninth-largest crowd in College Park Center history, watched the Mavericks open the season with a victory.
UT Arlington (1-0) stretched out to a game-high 15-point lead midway through the second half, before fighting off a late charge from the Wildcats. The Mavericks connected on 20-of-27 free throw attempts, many in the final stages of the game, to secure the win.
Texas Southern (0-1) got a dynamic performance from guard Zach Lofton, who had a game-high 37 points in 37 minutes, connecting on 13 field goals - including five 3-pointers - and adding four rebounds.
KEY RUN
After Texas Southern cut the lead to 74-70 on a long 3-pointer from Kevin Scott with just over two minutes left, UT Arlington finished off the game with a 15-12 run to conclude the win.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
UT Arlington got strong guard play, led by the 23 point, three rebound effort from Jones. Kaelon Wilson had 19 points on a program-record tying 8-for-8 shooting in just 22 minutes and junior guard Erik Neal had 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds, adding three steals.
In his return from a season-ending injury suffered in 2015-16, junior forward Kevin Hervey had 16 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in just 21 minutes. It marked his 10th career double-double effort.
Senior forward Faith Pope contributed a career game in his first career start, going for nine points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes.
QUOTABLE
"The mindset was just to come out and win the game," Hervey said. "The pressure gets taken off of everything else when I put my faith in my teammates. We just come out and try to play the best UTA basketball we can.
"He's been working on his game a lot. Him, Erik, Drew, everyone on the team has been working on attacking the cup more. Last year we were a 3-point shooting team but this year we want to take teams off the dribble more. We've been working on trying to finish at the basket and becoming a more multi-talented team.
"This is coach Cross' system. He's an up-tempo kind of guy. Even when we have a 7-footer, Link (Kabadyundi), who can run pretty good for a big guy. We were a little nervous coming into the season to see how he could keep up with that style of play but he's shown he can. The speed of our game hasn't changed and we look to get up and down because that is just the type of system we need to play to be successful."
NEXT
UT Arlington hits the road for its first road game of the season Monday, facing the Big Ten Conference's University of Minnesota at 7 p.m. The Mavericks also play at high-regarded Florida Gulf Coast University and the Southeastern Conference's University of Arkansas during a 5-day span.
