ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team never trailed and rolled to a 91-66 win over visiting Hardin-Simmons Friday night inside the College Park Center.
 
A balanced UTA offensive attack was led by five double-figure scorers and two more who came up a point shy of reaching that mark as the Mavericks used a 59-point 1st half to run away from the Cowboys.
 
Fredelin De La Cruz cruised to his second double-double of the year with season bests of 15 points and 15 rebounds. The junior had 10 points and 10 rebounds at the under-8 media timeout of the 1st half in only eight minutes of action before settling for the first 15-rebound outing by a Mav since Andres Ibarguen pulled down that many against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 7, 2019.
 
Sophomore Sam Griffin netted 14 points, classmate Nicolas Elame matched a career high with 12 points, freshman Brandyn Talbot tallied a season-best 12 points and redshirt senior Lazaro Rojas registered a career-establishing 11 points to round out the quintet of double-figure scorers for UTA.
 
Davis Steelman and Jordan Phillips just missed giving the Mavs seven in double-figure scoring as they both recorded nine points. The seven double-figure scorers would have been only the fourth such occurrence in program history (all-time record: eight versus Texas Wesleyan on Dec. 7, 1981).
 
The Mavs did all of that while resting five players – including their two leading scorers: Shahada Wells (14.8 ppg) and David Azore (12 ppg) – along with Patrick Mwamba, Grayson Carter and Carson Bischoff.
 
All 10 of UTA's dressed players appeared in the 1st half, with nine of them scoring. Playing its first game in a week after opening the season with five games in 10 days, UTA got off to a blistering start en route to a 28-point halftime lead which grew to as much as 38 in the 2nd half.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• UTA improves its record to 2-4, while Hardin-Simmons remains at 3-2 on the year as the contest for the Division-III member served as an exhibition.
• The 91 points are the most in a regulation game in the Chris Ogden era (3rd season), and are tied for the most in any game during his tenure (91 versus ULM in double overtime on Feb. 23, 2019).
• Ogden mixed up his starting lineup for just the third time this year with the quintet of Griffin, Elame, Steelman, Rojas and De La Cruz beginning the game.
• Steelman secured seven rebounds – his most as a Maverick – as part of a +30 rebound margin for the game for UTA (53-23).
• Rojas missed what would have been his first-career double-double by just a single rebound as the Fresno State grad transfer finished the contest with a career-high-tying nine boards.
• The 6-7 De La Cruz also finished tied for the team lead in assists with four; he played only 19 minutes to cap a +31 night in terms of plus/minus.
• Elame matched those four assists while also pulling down five rebounds – a total equaled by Phillips.
• Redshirt freshman Tre Jones registered six points and six rebounds to establish career bests in both categories in his young career.
• McKade Marquis registered his first points of the season on a 3-pointer in the 1st half.
• Freshman Antonio Romanelli made his collegiate debut, playing seven minutes.
• UTA shot 50 percent from the floor (31-62) and 3-point line (9-18), compared with 37 percent (22-60) and 43 percent (13-30) for Hardin-Simmons.
• The Mavs set season highs in assists (19), free-throw percentage (.714), points, rebounds, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage.
• More news and notes below the photo gallery.

 
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
UTA raced out to a 7-0 lead in the game's opening minutes and were never tested as the closest margin Hardin-Simmons had after that juncture was a 12-8 deficit.
 
The Mavs first double-figure lead of the night came at the 13:30 mark following a Phillips 3-pointer to make it 21-10, and they expanded to a 20-point cushion with 6:30 on the clock following an Elame 3-pointer to make it a 39-18 margin.
 
The lead reached 30 in the closing minute of the half, 59-29, when Elame fed a cutting Jones along the baseline for a two-handed slam.
 
UTA took a 59-31 advantage into the halftime break after shooting 58 percent from the floor (19-33) and 67 percent from the 3-point line (6-9). The Mavs also held advantages of 27-8 on the glass and 22-4 in paint points.
 
The UTA lead swelled to as much as 38 in the 2nd half, 84-46, with 6:30 remaining, before HSU closed the game on an extended run.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the first meeting between UTA and HSU since 2010; the Mavs now hold a 22-18 lead in the all-time series, have won seven in a row and 16 of 19 overall dating back to 1978.
• Abilene-based Hardin-Simmons was a Division-I member until 1990. The Cowboys are a member of the American Southwest Conference.
• Once again, approximately 600 spectators were in attendance as UTA Athletics officials plan to allow for roughly that amount each home basketball game this year.

NEXT UP
UTA will round out the 2020 calendar year with a final non-conference game against Howard Payne at the College Park Center on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 6 p.m. Hardin-Simmons defeated Howard Payne in its season opener, 81-70, in early November.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).