STILLWATER, Okla. – A cold start to the 2nd half doomed the UT Arlington men's basketball team at Oklahoma State Monday night in an otherwise strong performance by the Mavericks as the Cowboys claimed a 77-66 win in the season opener for both sides.
 
Trailing by just five at the half, 27-22, UTA mustered only two points in the opening 8:36 of the 2nd half as the Cowboys raced to a 31-point advantage, 55-24.
 
However, in an offensive explosion rarely seen a year ago, the Mavs gave their fans plenty to look forward to with a quality response against the Big 12 member. UTA counter-punched OSU with an extended 23-7 surge in a five-minute span to pull within 62-47 following an Aaron Cash dunk with 6:30 left.
 
From there, the feisty Mavs continued to claw and got their deficit down to as little as nine – highlighted by several alley-oop connections and strong finishes over the lengthy OSU bodies – before eventually succumbing to the 11-point final margin.
 
Returning just four players from last year's squad and welcoming 10 newcomers, UTA received 50 of its 66 points (75 percent) Monday from players who weren't donning the blue and orange a season ago. That effort was paced by a 14-point performance from junior Taj Anderson – a dozen of which came in the 2nd half to tie for the most of anyone on the court.
 
He was one of two Mavs to reach double-figure points, joined by returning sophomore Shemar Wilson with 11 on a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line. However, UTA had three other newcomers each finish with nine points: junior Kyron Gibson, sophomore Dario Domingos and freshman Brandon Walker.


BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• Ten of UTA's 11 players who appeared in the game scored: Cash (six), Pedro Castro (three), Brandyn Talbot (two), Chendall Weaver (two) and Marion Humphrey (one).
• Wilson, Domingos and Castro each pulled down a team-high-leading five rebounds.
• UTA out-scored OSU in the paint, 32-28, and held a massive 43-18 edge in bench points.
• Gibson led the Mavs with three assists, while Anderson recorded a game-high four steals.
• UTA's first points of the year came on an and-1 finish from Wilson at the 16:47 mark off a feed from Talbot.
• The UTA starters were Humphrey, Talbot, Cash, Castro and Wilson.
• Bryce Thompson led OSU with a game-high 18 points, while Kalib Boone tallied 15 and John-Michael Wright rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers with 14.
• Boone also corralled a game-best eight rebounds, while Thompson and Avery Anderson III both collected seven.
• UTA impressively kept Moussa Cisse in check, allowing the 7-foot-1 big man to score just five points and grab five boards in 23 minutes of action. Cisse is on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Preseason Watch List, which annually recognizes the top center in the nation.

QUOTABLE
"It was a valiant effort by our guys tonight. I think we've already seen the improvement made from last year. But we can't lose games in the last four minutes of the 1st half nor the first four minutes of the 2nd half; that was the difference tonight and we've got to figure that out. However, we continued to fight and get better. This is going to be a fun team to watch, and I'm excited about the season."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young


GAME FLOW
Both defenses were well ahead of the offenses to start the year as OSU held a 12-5 lead at the midway point of the 1st half following a 7-0 extended run. The Mavs fought that off with a 9-2 response over three minutes to tie the contest at 14-all at the 7:10 mark.
 
With the game still knotted up, 16-16, the Cowboys poked ahead again, this time by eight thanks to an 8-0 surge to give them a 24-16 edge with just over three minutes remaining. However, the Mavs were able to stave off OSU in the closing minutes as the Cowboys shot just 30 percent (9-30) from the floor and the Mavs' 29 percent (8-28).
 
Similar to the 1st half, OSU raced out quickly to commence the 2nd half, scoring the first 15 points of the stanza and carving out a 20-point lead, 42-22, not even five minutes into the period. After OSU expanded to the aforementioned 30+ point advantage on multiple occasions, UTA began to mount a furious surge before ultimately getting its deficit to single digits in the closing minute.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the third year in a row that UTA and OSU opened their respective seasons against one another as part of a now-completed 1-for-2 home-and-home series in Arlington and Stillwater, respectively.
• The only other time the Mavs have begun a season at least three-consecutive years against the same team was a five-year run against TCU from 1979-83.
• UTA brings back 25 percent or less of its points (19%), rebounds (25%), assists (15%) and blocks (16%) from last season.
• This was the first of what will likely be another top non-conference opponent for the Mavs as UTA entered the season with the 4th-hardest non-league strength of schedule in the nation based off opponents' 2021-22 NET rankings.

NEXT UP
UTA will have its home opener on Homecoming Week when the Mavs welcome Southwestern to the College Park Center on Saturday, Nov. 12, for a 7:30 p.m. start. That contest will conclude a tripleheader at the CPC which begins with volleyball at 11 a.m. versus Southern Utah and follows with women's basketball taking on D-I newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce at 3:30 p.m. 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).