UTA Defeats South Alabama

ARLINGTON, Texas – Three double-doubles powered UT Arlington to another milestone in Thursday night’s 92-79 blowout victory over South Alabama at College Park Center.

The Mavericks improved to 21-9 overall, tying the second-most wins in program history. More importantly, UTA is 12-7 in the Sun Belt and locked down a first-round bye for the conference tournament next week in New Orleans.

The Mavs are in third place going into the last game of the regular season Saturday against Troy. UTA moved ahead of Louisiana, which is 11-8 after Thursday’s loss to Georgia State. The Mavericks clinch third with a win over Troy.

Kaelon Wilson, Erick Neal and Jorge Bilbao each collected double-doubles against the Jags. Wilson paced the Mavericks with a career-high 21 points on 9-14 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. Neal, the league’s assists leader, scored 12 and tied his career high with 12 assists. Bilbao had 10 points and 12 boards for his sixth double-double this season.

UT Arlington appeared in position to make a run at the all-time single game record for 3-pointers (17) against the Jags with nine at the half. The Mavs ended up knocking down 12 from

beyond the arc, with Charles, Neal and Jalen Jones (16 points) each hitting multiple 3s.

UTA had little trouble with the Jags (13-17, 8-11) after falling behind early. The Mavericks took the lead for good at 12-11 and pulled away late in the first half behind a team-wide 3-point barrage.

Drew Charles (13 points) and Neal each knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half, with Jones hitting a pair from deep. The nine treys helped the Mavs take a healthy 57-41 lead into the break.

The Mavs were up as many as 23 in the second half before the South closed the gap in garbage time.