CEDAR CITY, Utah – Looking for its first road win of the season, the UT Arlington men's basketball team left no doubt in securing that elusive victory on Thursday night as the Mavericks led for the final 36 minutes en route to a 76-68 triumph over Southern Utah inside the America First Event Center.
 
UTA broke a 5-5 tie on a pair of free throws by DaJuan Gordon at the 16:20 mark and never looked back, leading by as much as 20 on its way to snapping an 0-9 start to the season on the road.
 
Gordon recorded his seventh double-double of the season to tie teammate Shemar Wilson for the most in the WAC. The grad transfer poured in 18 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds for his third-straight double-double.
 
Offensively, the Mavs were led by Phillip Russell, who knocked down a season-best five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 22 points – his most in a road contest this season and the junior guard's third 20+ outing in nine games this year.
 
True freshman Makaih Williams reached double-figure points for the sixth-straight game and eighth time in the last nine contests with 14. After scoring three points in the previous two games combined, Brandyn Talbot rounded out a quartet of UTA double-figure scorers as he notched 10.
 
UTA held Southern Utah to just 35% (23-65) shooting from the floor and forced the Thunderbirds into 15 turnovers – nearly four more than their season average.
 
The victory was the aforementioned first on the road (1-9) for UTA this season. The last time the Mavs began a year 0-9 away from home was 1994-95, and they won in their 10th try that season as well – on Feb. 4, 1995, at Northwestern State.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• The win moves UTA to 10-11 overall and evens its WAC record at 5-5, while the loss stops a mini two-game winning streak for Southern Utah and drops the Thunderbirds to 8-13 and 3-7, respectively.
• Aaron Cash scored just one point but pulled down eight rebounds – four on the offensive end – in addition to registering three steals.
• Russell also issued a game-high-tying four assists and recorded three steals.
• Wilson was held to a season-low two points – breaking a stretch of six-straight double-figure scoring games – but pulled down six rebounds and tied a career high with five blocks.
• UTA shot 42% (26-62) from the floor and 46% (12-26) from 3-point range – the seventh time this season the Mavs have made 10+ 3s in a game.
• The Mavs received 41 points from its bench – the most against a Division-I opponent this season.
• Zion Young and Prophet Johnson were the lone SUU double-figure scorers with 16 each.
• UTA held reigning WAC Player of the Week Dominique Ford in check, limiting him to just nine points on 4-11 shooting before fouling out.
• UTA utilized the same starting lineup as it did last time out: Akili Vining, Williams, Gordon, Cash and Wilson; Wilson is the only Mav to start all 21 games this year.

QUOTABLE
"It's a great feeling and long overdue. We have to finish games better, but it's great to get a road win. We talked about being ready, and we were able to jump out to a fast start and that helped us out tremendously. We pressured the ball, tried to make them uncomfortable and take them out of their game, and we did a good job of that."
– UTA Head Coach KT Turner
 

GAME FLOW
Three early 3-pointers on as many attempts by Russell helped fuel what eventually became a 10-0 UTA run to turn extend a 10-7 lead into a 20-7 cushion, capped by a Russell reverse layup just eight minutes into the contest.
 
That UTA margin grew to 15, 28-13, with under eight minutes remaining as Kade Douglas knocked down a long triple in transition off a steal by Gordon. The Mavs' edge got as large as 16 in the 1st half, 36-20, with just under three minutes left before SUU closed the 1st half on a 7-0 push to only trail by nine at intermission, 36-27.
 
Whatever momentum the Thunderbirds had, the Mavs put an end to coming out of the locker room as they held the hosts scoreless for the first 5+ minutes on their way to building back up a 14-point advantage, 41-27.
 
That swelled to as much as 20, 54-34, with 11 minutes showing following a Gordon second-chance layup, and the Mavs didn't allow the T-Birds to get any closer than 11 until a 3-pointer in the closing seconds created the eight-point final differential.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was UTA's first-ever trip to Cedar City, and the Mavs are now 1-1 all-time against SUU.
• This is the second time Gordon has recorded three double-doubles in a row as he started his tenure with the Mavs notching three consecutively to open the year. The other was a 15-point, 15-rebound effort off the bench versus Air Force.
• UTA is now 8-2 when leading at the half this year.
• Wilson has now collected 14 rejections in his last four games.
• Talbot went 2-4 from beyond the arc, and the Mavs are now 7-0 this season when he makes at least two 3-pointers in a game.
• All nine of UTA's wins this season have come when the Mavs score at least 70 points.

NEXT UP
UTA continues its road trip when it heads even farther south in Utah to face Utah Tech in St. George on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT (3 MT). The Trailblazers are now 8-13 overall and 4-6 in the WAC following an 81-64 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday night.

 

-- #BuckEm --

 
PURCHASE TICKETS
Secure your seat to see the re-energized UTA men's basketball program in action at the College Park Center. Purchase tickets at UTATickets.com, call 817-272-9595 or email boxoffice@uta.edu.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, follow the men's basketball program on X (formerly Twitter) (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).