UTA Wins At UC Irvine
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IRVINE, California – UT Arlington guard Drew Charles hit a go-head 3-pointer in the final minute and the Mavericks finished strong to beat UC Irvine 70-62 Saturday night at Bren Events Center.
The Mavericks improved to 5-4 with their second consecutive win, while also snapping a three-game road losing streak. The Anteaters (4-4) had beaten UTA two years ago in Arlington.
“We came into their house and the guys pulled it out,” UT Arlington coach Scott Cross said. “I’m really proud of them. It was an all-around game. We played very good defensively. The only thing that hurt us was turnovers and offensive rebounds.”
Charles and forward Kevin Hervey each scored 15 points to lead the Mavericks. Charles did his damage off the bench and hit two 3-pointers down the stretch, including one for a 63-60 edge with 55 seconds left.
“It was a great win for us to come all the way from Texas and beat these guys,” said Charles, who didn’t miss a shot in four attempts and made three 3-pointers. “It shows you how good we can be. That’s a good team.”
The Mavericks nailed down the victory with free throws from
Charles, guard Lonnie McClanahan and forward Greg Gainey. UTA was down 57-53 before ending the game with a 17-5 run.
“I knew Drew Charles was going to have a great game the way he played in practice,” Cross said.
The Mavericks shot 49 percent for the game and limited UCI to 35.6 percent. McClanahan scored eight points, guard Johnny Hill had seven points and six turnovers, and guard Kaelon Wilson grabbed seven rebounds in his first start.
The Mavericks jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind Hervey before UCI responded with an 11-2 run to take a 13-7 lead. Turnovers were an issue for UTA, which lost the ball nine times in the game’s first eight minutes.
Once the Mavericks began taking care of the ball, they began to take control of the nonconference matchup. UTA regained the lead (21-19) on McClanahan’s floater and continued to execute at a high level offensively to finish the half.
Charles, Hervey and guard Jamel Outler drilled 3-pointers in a run that put the Mavericks up 37-27. UTA went into the break leading 40-34 on the strength of 59-percent shooting. Hervey had 10 points, with Outler adding six.
