STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Playing its first Western Athletic Conference game in a decade, the UT Arlington men's basketball team struggled to get going offensively against a stout Tarleton defense en route to a 70-63 league-opening setback inside Wisdom Gymnasium Thursday night.
 
Kyron Gibson scored all 15 of his team-high points in the 2nd half as the junior guard delivered his second-highest total of the year to pace UTA, which committed 17 turnovers – four above its season average – against a Tarleton side that came into the game ranked 5th nationally in forcing giveaways.
 
A pair of true freshmen in Chendall Weaver and Brandon Walker impressed in their first conference contest on the road for UTA as Weaver registered 11 points to go along with five rebounds and a pair of assists. Meanwhile, Walker notched 10 points and six rebounds in his first career starting role.
 
UTA's top-two leading scorers on the year in Shemar Wilson (10/game) and Gibson (9/game) were saddled with foul trouble in the 1st half as both were whistled for two each and combined for just a pair of points during the opening period. With that duo hamstrung, Tarleton used a key stretch to pull away in what proved to be the difference in the game.
 
Trailing by just two, 9-7, a handful of minutes into the contest, UTA had a Gibson 3-point look just miss which would have given the Mavericks the lead. Instead, Tarleton clipped off a 16-2 run over the next 10 minutes to create a 16-point lead, 25-9, and from there the Texans kept the double-figure advantage the rest of the night until the closing minute.
 
Tarleton led by as much as 20, and had a 19-point lead, 61-42, with less than four minutes remaining before UTA turned up the pressure and received some misses at the free throw line from the Texans. As a result, the Mavs chipped away and got its deficit down to nine on two occasions inside of the final 40 seconds, and eventually settled for the seven-point final margin.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• With the loss, UTA drops to 5-9 overall and 0-1 in the WAC, while Tarleton improves to 7-6 and 1-0.
• Wilson finished with seven points, including 5-7 from the free throw line, in addition to two assists and two blocks in 21 foul-plagued minutes.
• Aaron Cash came off the bench to record six points and corral a team-best and game-high-tying eight rebounds. Those eight caroms represent a season high for the Texas A&M transfer.
• Starting point guard Marion Humphrey finished with six points, three rebounds and a team-best four assists.
• Dario Domingos (five) and Taj Anderson (three) rounded out the UTA scoring.
• UTA finished 35 percent (18-52) from the floor, while Tarleton connected at a 49-percent rate (23-47).
• However, UTA did shoot a season-best 81 percent (21-26) from the free throw line.
• The Mavs held a 34-30 rebounding edge, including a 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass, but the Texans posted an 11-9 cushion in second-chance points.
• UTA scored just 16 1st-half points – its fewest in an opening period this season. The Mavs responded with 47 points in the 2nd half – just shy of the 50 they tallied at Oklahoma State for the most in a closing frame this year against a Division-I opponent.
• UTA utilized its sixth-different starting lineup this year after having the same group for the last six contests: Humphrey, Gibson, Weaver, Walker and Wilson.
• Lue Williams notched a game-high 21 points for Tarleton, which also received double-figure scoring contributions from Tiger Booker (15) and Shakur Daniel (11).
• 2022 WAC Freshman of the Year Freddy Hicks missed his fourth-straight game for Tarleton due to an injury. He is the Texans' leading scorer (17.9), rebounder (6.4) and assist (3.0) man this year.

QUOTABLE
"Tarleton was just the better team tonight on its home floor – they were physical and tough. We just had another night where we didn't make enough shots and we weren't at a high enough level defensively that we needed to be at when we aren't knocking down those shots. It's one game out of a long conference season, so we're going to keep grinding and maturing and getting better."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young

 
GAME FLOW
During the aforementioned 16-2 1st-half run by the Texans, the Mavs committed six turnovers, and that 16-point edge eventually ended up being a 15-point advantage for Tarleton at the halftime break, 31-16.
 
Tarleton's suffocating defense limited UTA to just 22-percent shooting (5-23) in the 1st half and forced the Mavs into seven giveaways. On the other end, the Texans connected at 62 percent (13-21) from the floor in the initial stanza.
 
The Texans extended to their largest lead of the evening at 20, 38-18, five minutes into the 2nd half before the Mavs responded with an 8-0 push – capped by Anderson's first points in over a month with a 3-pointer.
 
That made it a 38-26 contest with more than 12 minutes remaining, and the Mavs got it down to 11, 45-34, following a Domingos bucket and foul – his first points since Dec. 6 – with still more than eight minutes showing.
 
However, Tarleton responded with a quick 5-0 spurt in a minute to get the lead back to 16. The Texans eventually opened up another 19-point advantage, 61-42, with just under four minutes left before the Mavs chipped away for the single-digit setback.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the first meeting between UTA and Tarleton since 1986. The Mavs now lead the all-time series, 8-2.
• In its one previous season in the WAC in 2012-13, the Mavs went 11-7 in the conference and reached the WAC Tournament Final before falling to New Mexico State, 64-55, in the title game.
• This was UTA's first game this year contested on a Thursday; the only day of the week the Mavs have yet to play is Sunday.

NEXT UP
UTA will face a quick turnaround when it heads back home for its first game at the College Park Center in nearly four weeks with a 1 p.m. tipoff against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Dec. 31. SFA (9-5, 1-0 WAC) began its conference slate with a 75-68 home victory over Abilene Christian earlier on Thursday.
 
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).