UTA Beats UNT
ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington men’s basketball team had the hot hand with five players scoring in double figures in its 90-67 victory over rival North Texas on Thursday night at College Park Center.
The Mavericks (6-2) and the Mean Green (2-5) met for the first time since 2012-13 as UTA grasped its third win in a row in the 41-year all-time series. UTA improved to 6-2, its best start in five years, with its third straight win in Arlington.
Kevin Hervey recorded his fifth consecutive double-double and is the only UTA player to score in double digits in all eight games this season. Hervey notched 20 points while dishing a career-high seven assists and 15 rebounds in 31 minutes.
UTA blazed through the first half on a 23-6 run behind a 60-percent shooting effort from the field. The Mavericks saw a pair of dunks from Jalen Jones and Jorge Bilbao, and back-to-back 3s from Hervey and Drew Charles initially led to a 14-5 lead.
UTA’s ninth turnover of the half allowed the Mean Green to battle back 27-21 with just over seven minutes left. A pair of North Texas 3-pointers tied the game at 35, but an alley-oop from Hervey to Kaelon Wilson brought the Mavericks back to life as they regained the lead 39-35. Charles hit a 3 to put UTA up 52-42 at halftime.
The Mavs’ offense was slow to start the second half as North Texas built momentum with a 7-2 run, but UTA got a standing ovation from the crowd after Jones put up a layup to stretch the lead to 18 points with 7:06 to play.
UNT fans already began filing out of College Park Center with less than five minutes on the clock while UTA continued on its offensive surge. Kennedy Eubanks downed a pair of 3-pointers to close out the night.
