The UT Arlington Mavericks fall to the league-leading Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns who came from behind to win 77-65 Thursday night.
The Mavericks got off to an impressive start of the game with forward Kevin Hervey, who opened up the scoring and accounted for the team’s first six points. Hervey ended the night with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists playing a total of 37 minutes.
Senior guard Erick Neal finished with 14 points, two rebounds and four assists. Other scoring Mavericks include Kaelon Wilson for ten points and Johnny Hamilton for eight points and seven rebounds.
UTA (12-8, 3-4) dominated both sides of the ball during the first half against the undefeated conference opponent (16-3, 6-0), but seemed to lose control of the game during the second half when Louisiana had a 20-2 run.
“We got in a funk and we started taking bad shots, they started hitting shots, our defensive intensity drops and next thing you know we can’t stop them,” said Coach Scott Cross. “They absolutely dominated us in the second half. There’s a reason why they’re in first place in the league. Right now they’re definitely the best team.”
Louisiana didn’t necessarily make any drastic game adjustments, but it was clear the Mavericks were self-destructive in the second half with failure to execute on shots and rebounds.
If anything, Louisiana played with a higher intensity that UTA could not physically match.
The Ragin’ Cajuns remain undefeated in the Sun Belt Conference making this their sixth straight league victory.
The Mavericks will have the opportunity to redeem themselves when they play Louisiana-Monroe (7-9, 1-4) on Saturday at College Park.
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