EDINBURG, Texas – The UT Arlington men's basketball team raced out to a double-figure lead just five minutes into contest, led by nearly 20 with less than seven minutes left and held on down the stretch to give the shorthanded Mavericks a crucial 64-58 win at UT Rio Grande Valley Thursday night.
 
Playing without its leading scorer and rebounder in Shemar Wilson due to a hip issue, UTA was unfazed and blitzed UTRGV from the opening tip to the tune of an 18-2 start not even seven minutes into the tilt.
 
The Mavs led by double figures for the next 33 minutes before the Vaqueros used a 14-0 run and eventually got as close as four, 60-56, with 45 seconds remaining before UTA put the game away at the free throw line.
 
Kyron Gibson posted a brilliant all-around performance with a team-high-tying 13 points, game-best eight assists and team-most seven rebounds for UTA. Aaron Cash matched Gibson's scoring output as all but two of his baker's dozen of his points came in the opening half.
 
Dario Domingos registered 11 points on 5-7 shooting in 12 minutes off the bench – his first double-digit scoring performance against a Division-I team and just one shy of matching his season high of 12 versus Hardin-Simmons back on Nov. 15.
 
Reigning WAC Freshman of the Week Chendall Weaver added 10 points – five of which came in the final 40 seconds to ice the game for UTA – and also collected five rebounds.
 
Combined with an 85-73 win in Arlington on Jan. 19, UTA now secures the tiebreaker over the Vaqueros for advancement to the WAC Tournament should both teams finish with the same league record.
 
UTRGV plays with the nation's 4th-fastest tempo on offense and averages 78 points per game, but UTA grinded that to a halt – particularly in the 1st half – as the Mavs held the Vaqueros to just 17 points – by far the fewest allowed against a D-I foe this year (previous: 23 by UTRGV last month). The 58 points for the game that UTRGV scored are its second fewest of the year behind only a 54-point performance at then-#4 Texas on Nov. 26; 18 of those points came in the closing six minutes Thursday.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• With the win, UTA improves to 9-16 overall and 4-8 in the WAC, while UTRGV drops to 12-13 and 3-9.
• Wilson leads UTA this year in total points (262 / 10.9 average) and rebounds (188 / 7.8 average). He ranks 2nd in the WAC with five double-doubles this season.
• Thin in the frontcourt with Wilson out, Damonze Woods was UTA's first substitution not even two minutes into the game. The true freshman entered the game with 14 points on the year – and just two against D-I competition – but he tallied four in the first three minutes he was on the court on his way to six for the game to go along with five rebounds.
• Woods had not appearance in a game since Jan. 12, and had not scored since Nov. 28 – which was his last time in a game prior to Jan. 12.
• UTA shot 45 percent (25-56) from the floor while holding UTRGV to 38 percent (20-53).
• The Mavs finished with a 38-34 rebounding edge and 36-24 advantage in paint points.
• UTA utilized its 11th different starting lineup of the season: Gibson, Weaver, Cash, Montez Young Jr, and Brandon Walker.

QUOTABLE
"It's a good win on the road against a team that's been playing well. They're so dynamic offensively – and we saw what they can do offensively the last five minutes or so – but sometimes it's hard to play with such a big lead, and we need to get better at that. But I'm so proud of our team and some individual guys who have hung in with us all year and really helped us tonight."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young
 

GAME FLOW
After tying a career high by knocking down six 3-pointers in UTA's win over UTRGV in January, Cash picked right up where he left off, drilling three triples in the first seven minutes to spearhead the aforementioned 18-2 start by the Mavs.
 
Domingos made it a 24-8 margin with just over eight minutes remaining in the half, and the UTA advantage remained in double digits the rest of the period. After UTRGV pulled within 11, 28-17, Gibson scored the final four points of the stanza to give UTA a 15-point lead at the break, 32-17.
 
The Mavs held a 16-point cushion, 37-21, just a few minutes into the 2nd half following a Walker uncontested 3-pointer, but UTRGV responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to pull within 10, 37-27.
 
That preceded the under-16 media timeout, and out of that break the Mavs rattled off an important 7-0 answer to re-establish their biggest lead to that point of 17, 44-27, with a little over 13 minutes showing. The margin swelled to 19, 51-32, after Gibson fed a perfect pass into the paint for a Domingos finish inside of 11 minutes.
 
The UTA lead remained at 19, 58-39, with 6:30 remaining before UTRGV mounted the furious comeback attempt. The Vaqueros rattled off a 14-0 run over the next 5:30 to pull all the way within five, 58-53, with 55 seconds showing. Gibson finally stopped that surge with a pair of free throws, but UTRGV answered with a 3-pointer at the 45-second mark to make it 60-56.
 
On the ensuing possession, Weaver got free in the frontcourt, was fouled, made one attempt and then threw down the exclamation mark on the contest with a breakaway dunk a few seconds later.
 
THIS AND THAT

• As part of UTRGV's Homecoming kickoff, a parade preceded the game and the Vaqueros wore throwback uniforms as it honored the 1962-63 NAIA National Championship team on its 60th anniversary.
• The WAC is currently ranked by KenPom as the 12th-best conference (out of 32) in the nation.

NEXT UP
This was UTA's third game in six days after having 10 days in-between contests. The Mavs will now have six days off before returning to the court at Sam Houston on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
 
UTA won the first matchup of the year against the Bearkats on Feb. 4, 70-58, by far the Mavs best win on paper of the season as Sam Houston was a Quad 2 victory with a NET Ranking of #50.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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