UTA Loses At Montana State
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BOZEMAN, Montana – UT Arlington dropped to 3-3 on the season with Friday night’s 104-81 setback to Montana State at Breeden Fieldhouse.
The Mavericks came up short in both games on a weeklong road trip that began with a loss at No. 1 Kentucky. The road doesn’t get any easier with a trip to No. 7 Texas coming up Tuesday night.
Montana State (1-4) looked to be a vastly different team in its home opener than its 0-4 start on the road. The Bobcats made 18 3-pointers before their fans, 13 in the first half, after averaging just 6.3 makes in their first four games.
MSU guard Michael Dison led the charge with 32 points and made seven 3-pointers in the first-ever meeting between the programs. Stephan Holm also had seven 3-pointers and scored 25 off the bench, as five Bobcats scored in double figures.
UTA guards Drew Charles, Lonnie McClanahan and Johnny Hill, and forward Julian Harris each scored at least 11 points. Harris and forward Kevin Hervey each had a team-high four rebounds. Erick Neal dished out five assists.
The Bobcats were hot early from downtown, jumping out to a 9-0 lead on a trio of 3-pointers. The barrage from beyond the arc didn’t let up for the rest of the half. MSU had 14 field goals over the opening 20 minutes, 13 being 3-pointers.
The Mavericks made their runs, but still went into the break down 55-36. An 11-0 spurt that
included two 3-pointers from Jamel Outler cut the deficit to 29-24 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the half.
Charles had 11 points at the half to lead UTA, with Outler scoring eight. The Mavericks shot 41.1 percent (12-29) and were outscored 16-7 off turnovers. MSU also held a 14-7 advantage at the foul line.
Montana State quickly got the lead back into double digits, opening up as much as a 21-point spread (53-32) in the Bobcats’ highest scoring half of the season. Dison made all six of his 3-point tries in the half and scored 21 points. Holm had four 3s and 14 points.
MSU shot 76.5 percent (13-17) in the first half on 3-point attempts and 50 percent from the floor overall. The Bobcats had been shooting 27 percent in the first half of its first four games.
