HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A spirited effort by the shorthanded and new-look UT Arlington men's basketball team fell just short on Wednesday as Sam Houston used a late run to pull away from the feisty Mavericks, 66-56, inside Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
 
Playing without its 2nd-leading scorer (10.9) and leading rebounder (7.8) in Shemar Wilson for the second-straight game due to a hip issue – and under the guidance of interim head coach Royce Johnson for the first time – UTA overcame an early 10-point deficit, held a four-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining but couldn't finish down the stretch.
 
Chendall Weaver delivered a baseline dunk with nine minutes remaining to propel the Mavs to a 46-42 lead, but a few minutes later the Bearkats took the lead and didn't surrender it the rest of the night as UTA split the season series with top-60 NET-ranked Sam Houston.
 
It was a pair of true freshmen leading the offensive charge for the Mavs as Brandon Walker and Weaver combined for 29 points – more than half of UTA's total – and 14 rebounds.
 
Walker narrowly missed his first career double-double with team bests of 15 points and nine rebounds. The 15 points – which also tied a game high – are his most against a Division-I team and two shy of tying his career high, while the nine boards are a career best and also were the most by any player on the floor.
 
Weaver added 14 points – extending his season-long double-figure scoring stretch to four in a row – to go along with five rebounds in a team-most 37 minutes.
 
Ranked #18 in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, this was a rare Quad 1 opportunity for the Mavs after they picked up a Quad 2 win earlier this month with a home victory over the Sam Houston. Still, UTA managed a season split with the Bearkats, who appear in the top-15 nationally in seven key offensive and defensive statistical categories.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• With the loss, UTA drops to 9-17 overall and 4-9 in the WAC, while Sam Houston improves to 19-6 and 9-4.
• Wilson is tied for 2nd in the WAC with five double-doubles this season, and he ranks 12th nationally by averaging 3.6 offensive rebounds per game.
• The 6-7 Walker entered the game with five 3-pointers all season, but knocked down three in the 1st half alone.
• Dario Domingos, Kyron Gibson, Marion Humphrey and Brandyn Talbot all each finished with five points for the Mavs, who shot 36 percent (19-53) from the floor and 40 percent (10-25) from 3-point range. The 10 3s were one shy of tying a season high.
• Montez Young Jr. secured six rebounds for UTA.
• After being out-scored in the paint in the 1st half, 16-2, UTA out-scored the Bearkats in the 2nd half, 14-8.
• UTA utilized its 12th different starting lineup of the season and fifth in the last six games: Humphrey, Gibson, Weaver, Domingos and Walker. For Domingos, it was his first-career start at the D-I level.
• Cameron Huefner led a quartet of double-figure scorers with 15 for Sam Houston; three of those four were above their season average.
• Sam Houston converted 16 UTA turnovers into 19 points (a +7 margin), and only gave the ball away 10 times in return.

QUOTABLE
"We played a good game against a great team, but 16 turnovers and a tough closing stretch with too many empty offensive possessions and giving up late 3s hurt us. I thought our guys fought, and I hate the way things ended, but we're going to get back in the gym and get ready for Stephen F. Austin."
– UTA Interim Head Coach Royce Johnson
 

GAME FLOW
Sam Houston raced out to an 11-2 start not even five minutes into the contest and built a double-figure lead of 18-8 at the 12-minute mark. Pedro Castro knocked down his first 3-pointer in nearly a month to spearhead an 14-4 response by the Mavs over the next three minutes to tie the contest at 22-all on a Weaver triple.
 
UTA jumped in front, 28-27, on another Weaver 3 at 4:30 mark, but unfortunately for the Mavs those would be their last points until 7 seconds remained when Weaver knocked down a free throw. Sam Houston capitalized on that Maverick scoring drought and took a 34-29 lead into the half.
 
However, UTA was within a couple possessions despite Gibson being shut out in the opening 20 minutes and not having the services of Wilson. Eight of the Mavs' 10 field goals in the 1st half came from beyond the arc as UTA connected at a 47-percent clip (8-17) but just a 35-percent rate (10-29) from the floor overall. Meanwhile, Sam Houston shot 52 percent (14-27) from the field.
 
Sam Houston extended its lead back to seven, 36-29, with the first bucket of the 2nd half. Unfazed, the Mavs fought back and used an 11-0 run over the next handful of minutes to claim a 40-36 advantage. UTA remained in front until a Sam Houston 3-pointer with a little over eight minutes to go put the hosts ahead, 48-46.
 
The Kats used that conversion to begin a 9-3 push with all of their points coming off triples to eventually create a 56-49 cushion inside of five minutes, and extended to 10, 64-54, in the closing 30 seconds before settling for the 10-point win.
 
UTA held Sam Houston to 32 percent (10-31) from the floor in the closing stanza and only 41 percent (24-58) for the game, but 11 2nd-half giveaways for the Mavs proved key.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the first game of Johnson's tenure as he replaced Greg Young this past Friday.
• UTA and Sam Houston just played in Arlington on Feb. 4, with the Mavs claiming an impressive 70-58 win. At the time, the Bearkats were #50 in the NET Rankings, giving UTA its second Quad 2 win of the season (San Francisco).
• The WAC is currently ranked by KenPom as the 12th-best conference (out of 32) in the nation.

NEXT UP
UTA will head back to Arlington before traveling to Nacogdoches to battle Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. The Lumberjacks are coming off a 65-60 home win over Tarleton earlier on Wednesday.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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