EDINBURG, Texas – On a night in which all 13 UT Arlington players scored, the Mavericks jumped out to a quick start and never trailed, leading by as much as 25 en route to a dominant 89-70 blitzing of UT Rio Grande Valley Saturday, souring the Vaqueros' Homecoming.
 
UTA created a double-figure lead not even seven minutes into the contest, led by 16 at the half and finished with its 2nd-highest point total of the year against a Division-I opponent in sweeping the season series from UTRGV.
 
All 13 Mavs registered a point, paced by a season-high-tying 17 from Aaron Cash who also tied a career high with four steals and added five rebounds.
 
DaJuan Gordon didn't add to his WAC-leading double-double total of 10 this season, but the grad transfer still hit a milestone mark as he eclipsed 700 career rebounds as part of an eight-board, 16-point performance on an extremely efficient 7-8 from the floor in only 23 minutes of action.
 
Shemar Wilson added 15 points on 6-9 from the floor while also corralling seven rebounds. Off the bench, Brandyn Talbot and Fabio Basili both netted nine points as UTA narrowly missed placing five players in double figures.
 
The Mavs shot 51% (34-67) from the field to represent their 3rd-highest clip of the season as the 89 points are 2nd to only the 91 they put on UTRGV in the first matchup this season for the most versus a D-I foe.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• The win improves UTA to 13-13 overall and 8-7 in the WAC, while the loss is the eighth in a row for UTRGV and drops the Vaqueros to 6-19 and 2-12, respectively.
• Phillip Russell scored just two points, but issued a season-high-tying seven assists against only two turnovers as collectively the Mavs had 19 helpers and only 14 turnovers.
• Talbot went 3-5 from 3-point range, while Basili scored all of his points in the final 6:43 of the contest.
• Akili Vining (6), Sterling Gaston-Chapman (4), Chauncey Gibson (3), Kade Douglas (3), Makaih Williams (2), Dwayne Koroma (2) and Darrius Miles (1) accounted for the rest of UTA's scoring.
• UTA controlled the paint, out-scoring UTRGV, 50-28, and winning the rebound battle, 42-32. The 50 paint points for the Mavs are a season high.
• Sherman Brashear (15), Elijah Elliott (14) and Daylen Williams (14) led the offensive charge for UTRGV, which shot 44% (25-57) from the floor.
• UTA utilized the same starting lineup for the third-straight game: Williams, Gaston-Chapman, Gordon, Cash and Wilson.
• For Gaston-Chapman it marks his third-consecutive start, and Wilson remains the only Mav to start all 26 games.

QUOTABLE
"Every road game in this conference is a challenge, and I'm proud of how the guys took care of business. Our whole team brought a lot of energy to practices and shootaround today, and I told them it needed to carry over to the game and they did a good job of making sure it did."
– UTA Head Coach KT Turner
 

GAME FLOW
UTA came out at a blistering pace offensively, and following a 7-0 run took its first double-figure lead of the night, 18-7, not even seven minutes into the contest. After UTRGV got the deficit back down to five, 20-15, the Mavs responded with a 10-0 outburst, and after a second Talbot 3-pointer of the stanza had established a 30-15 edge at the 7:30 mark.
 
The Mavs remained in front by double figures the rest of the half, and following a Koroma Euro-step finish had expanded to its biggest cushion of the 1st half, 41-22, inside of two minutes before settling for a 42-26 halftime advantage.
 
In the opening 20 minutes, UTA received scoring contributions from 10 different players while shooting 57% (17-30) from the floor and 50% (4-8) from beyond the arc.
 
After UTA re-built the 19-point margin, 45-26, not even a minute into the 2nd half, the Vaqueros responded with a 6-0 stretch to pull within 13, 45-32. Feeling the momentum start to shift – even if slightly – Turner used his first timeout of the night to try and quell that insurgence, and that's exactly what happened.
 
Out of the huddle, the Mavs countered with a 7-0 run to open up their largest margin of the game to that point at 20, 52-32. The margin swelled to as much as 25, 68-43, near the midway juncture, and UTA led by at least 16 for the final 10 minutes.
 
THIS AND THAT

• The win and some timely losses for the Mavs around the league moves UTA into 4th place in the WAC standings with five regular-season games remaining. The top-8 teams make the WAC Tournament, and the top-4 seeds receive a first-round bye.
• UTA is now a perfect 8-0 when Talbot makes at least two 3-pointers in a game.
• Williams had a streak of reaching double-figure points in 12 of the last 13 games (9 at SFA on Jan. 6) snapped with the two-point outing.
• Five of UTA's seven WAC losses have come against three of the top-4 teams in the league entering the day by an average of only 3.6 points.
• The 13 wins for the Mavs are their most since a 13-13 COVID-truncated 2020-21 season.
• All 13 of UTA's wins this season have come when it scores at least 70 points.
• Along with Gordon's 700+ rebounds, he also boasts 1,200+ career points.

NEXT UP
UTA returns the College Park Center for its final homestand – and two of its closing three home games – next weekend, beginning on Thursday, Feb. 22, when the Mavs welcome Southern Utah for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
   
PURCHASE TICKETS
Secure your seat(s) all season long to see the re-energized UTA men's basketball program in action at the College Park Center. Purchase single game or season tickets at UTATickets.com, call 817-272-9595 or email boxoffice@uta.edu.
 
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