UT Arlington Defeats UALR
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LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – UT Arlington senior guard Lonnie McClanahan scored 21 points and the Mavericks stormed back in the second half to beat UALR 75-68 Saturday in Sun Belt Conference action at Jack Stephens Center.
UTA (12-7, 6-3) also ran its winning streak to three in a row, including a two-game road sweep that began with Thursday’s win at Sun Belt-leader ULM. The Mavericks are 5-5 on the road this season and 3-1 all-time against the Trojans.
UT Arlington outscored UALR 47-29 in the second half after being down as many as 14 in the first. The Mavericks won for the second time this season when being down at the half.
“It was a gritty, gritty win,” UT Arlington coach Scott Cross said. “The guys started out down big really quickly in the first half. There was no intensity, no emotion and usually when you start out that way it’s very tough on the road because you have no crowd support and you back is against the wall.
“Our guys came out in the second half and made shot and started fighting. This may be one of the best wins of the season because at halftime it looked very bleak.”
Playing without leading scorer Johnny Hill, McClanahan was one of several Mavs to pick up the slack. McClanahan set a new season high by slicing through the UALR defense to get to the basket and the foul line. He made 5 of 8 shots from the floor and 11 of 13 free throws.
Freshman guard Erick Neal and senior guard Jamel Outler each scored 11, and freshman Kevin Harvey added 10 points. The Mavericks made 11 3-pointers; with Neal, Outler and sophomore guard Drew Charles each hitting three.
The Trojans were held to 36.7-percent shooting (11-30) in the second half, as UTA did a much better job of taking care of the ball and finding open shooters. The Mavericks made 7-14 3-pointers after
halftime and turned the ball over just four times.
The beginning couldn’t have been any worse. UTA turned the ball over six times and missed seven of its first eight shots, falling behind 15-2 and forcing Cross to burn a timeout to stem the bleeding.
The Mavericks did respond with a decent stretch of executive and cut into the deficit. A pair of 3-pointers from Outler and another from Hervey were part of a push that pulled UT Arlington within 22-15.
The Trojans answered with a 9-2 spurt to push their advantage back to 14 (31-17) with five minutes left in the half. UALR went into the locker room up 39-28 thanks mainly to a 12-4 edge in points off turnovers.
The Mavericks had more turnovers in the opening half (12) than field goals (9). McClanahan had 12 points at the break on 3-4 shooting from the floor and 6-7 at the line.
UTA had a completely different focus to start the second half. McClanahan scored on a backdoor cut on the first possession out of a set play. Charles’ 3-pointer from the wing cut the lead to 42-37 by the first media timeout.
Neal knocked down another two 3-pointers shortly after the stoppage, and the Mavericks were suddenly down just 47-43. Charles drilled another from beyond the arc to make it 47-46 and lead to a UALR timeout.
Senior center Anthony Walker’s dunk gave UTA its first lead (48-47) off a dish from Charles. Hervey scored five consecutive points to break a 55-55 tie. Neal and Charles followed with big 3s, the latter giving UTA a 66-61 lead with 1:58 remaining.
