UT Arlington drops UTEP 76-62

Kevin Hervey scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds leading four UT Arlington players in double figures as the Mavericks had no trouble dropping UTEP in the second half for a 76-62 win.

The Mavericks shot 45 percent from the field and made eight three pointers while methodically assisting on 18 of their 26 field goals.  For the third consecutive game UTEP was out rebounded this time by a 41-34 margin in their second straight loss.

Eric Neal and Jalen Jones each scored 14 points, while Kaelon Wilson added 13 points for UTA who improves to 7-2 on the season.

UTA would jump out to an early 7-2 lead after UTEP started 0-for-3 from the field, but the pace would pick up in a frantic manner for both sides.

Back-to-back buckets by Terry Winn brought UTEP within a bucket at 11-9 at the 14:50 mark of the first half.  Neither team would stretch a lead larger then two over the next ten minutes until the three ball started to fall for the Mavericks.

With the Miners holding a 24-21 lead after another deuce from Winn, Jalen Jones, Kevin Hervey, and Drew Charles would each connect on three pointer during a 15-5 Maverick run that gave UTA a 36-29 lead with 1:20 left until the halftime break.

Terry Winn would score 14 points in the first half for UTEP who went into the half trailing 36-31.

UTA would get off  to a great start in the second half as it took more than four minutes for UTEP to get their first bucket of the half.  Winn stopped the drought with a nice post move for a bucket, but the Miners trailed 42-34 at the under 16 minute timeout.

Wilson dropped in another two point jumper to swell the UTA lead to 47-34 with 14:28 left in the half, then the Don came alive for a few minutes as the Miners finally answered.

Lee Moore would get to the rim drawing a foul and goal tending call to cap off a 9-0 UTEP run and cut the deficit to 47-43 UTA with 10:53 left to play.

Then UTA put their foot on the gas, leaving UTEP to scrap to get within ten the rest of the way.

Hervey would complete a three point play at the eight minute mark to push the UTA lead back out to six, then Jones banged home another three pointer 23 seconds later to push the Mavericks margin to 56-47.

The final dagger came at the 3:41 mark as Wilson drilled a three pointer while falling out of bounds to beat the shot clock buzzer pushing the margin to 15.  Hervey would split a pair of free throws just a few seconds later which marked the largest UTA lead at 70-54 with 3:29 left.

Terry Winn turned in a solid performance with 14 points and eight rebounds in the losing effort, but UTEP shot 5-for-23 from three point land as they struggled to figure out the UTA zone the final eight minutes of the game.

Earvin Morris joined Winn in double figures with 13 points, Lee Moore added 12 for UTEP who saw their 12 game home winning streak snapped.

The Miners will now have a full week of practice before they head out on the road to face Washington State next Sunday afternoon.