UT Arlington Defeats UALR
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LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – UT Arlington avenged an early Sun Belt Conference loss and salvaged an Arkansas road split with Saturday night’s 75-71 victory over UALR at Jack Stephens Center.
Junior guard Jamel Outler scored a season-high 21, senior forward Brandon Edwards added 17 points and senior guard Reger Dowell had 15 for the Mavericks, who improved to 12-14 overall and 7-7 in the Sun Belt. UTA jumped ahead of the Trojans (12-15, 7-8) in the league standings.
The Mavericks, coming off Thursday’s 83-60 loss at Arkansas State, were beaten 72-70 by UALR last month in Arlington. Splitting the season series leaves UT Arlington fifth in conference.
“It was a great game,” UT Arlington coach Scott Cross said. “It was a lot harder than we expected. We had a nice lead and our guys got a little tentative. I told the guys to loosen up and play. In the end our guys made the plays we needed to win the ballgame.”
The Mavericks overcame a sluggish start to take a 39-36 lead into halftime. Outler scored 14 first-half points on 4-9 shooting from the floor, including 3-8 from 3-point territory. Edwards added 11 points.
Outler’s 3-pointer tied the game 19-19 midway through the first half before
junior forward Vincent Dillard’s driving layup put the Mavericks up two. Outler’s third 3-pointer of the half gave UTA a 28-24 lead.
Edwards connected on his lone 3-pointer to give UTA a 39-33 advantage going into the final minute. The Mavericks were shooting 46.7 percent (14-30) at the break and enjoyed a 19-14 rebounding edge.
UT Arlington opened the second half with an 11-0 run to take a 50-36 lead and force a timeout from UALR. The Mavericks never trailed in the second half, though the Trojans did get the deficit down to three points (63-60) with three minutes left.
Outler responded with his fifth 3-pointer and UT Arlington held on for its fourth road victory of the season. Outler tied his career high with 21 points. Edwards also had nine rebounds.
The Mavericks return to College Park Center for a two-game homestand starting Thursday (7:30 p.m.) against conference-leading Georgia State.
