Antonio Topps'
three-point attempt with under five seconds to play fell short as
UT Arlington took a 57-55 Southland Conference win over Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi.
"On that last
play, I probably should have called a timeout," head coach Perry
Clark said. "We were trying
to get the ball to KP (Kevin Perkins), but they did a good job
guarding him, so it eventually went to our secondary, which was
Antonio Topps. We looked a
bit disorganized when we couldn't get it where we wanted to." Topps' last second effort was
his only attempt of the game.
The Islanders
(5-13, 2-3) went cold the last nine minutes of the game, hitting
just one field goal during that span. Horace Bond hit a 15-footer with just
under 10 minutes to play before A&M-Corpus Christi missed its
next seven attempts. The
Islanders led 49-45 after Bonds' jumper, but the Mavericks took
advantage of the cold spell by going on an 8-3 run and eventually
took the lead for good on a jumper by Anthony Vereen with 4:29 to
go. Vereen scored a
game-high 20 points, hitting 6-of-9 from the field and 8-of-10 from
the free throw line.
A&M-Corpus
Christi did not take advantage at the free throw line, hitting just
9-of-16 from the charity stripe, but dominated the glass, pulling
down 43 rebounds to UTA's 35.
Demond Watt and
Perkins were the only two players to score in double-figures with
14 and 11, while Justin Reynolds and Horace Bond led the team with
six rebounds each.
The Mavericks
held the lead nearly the entire first half and were up by as many
six on two different occasions, but the Islanders tied the game on
a free throw by Watt with 13:28 to go in the first. They would take their first lead of
the half when Watt drained a three-pointer with 10:28 to go, giving
the Islanders a 15-14 advantage.
Rod Epps gave
the Mavericks the lead for good in the first on a three-pointer
with 8:10 to go and would eventually take a 31-29 lead at the
break.
Rog'er Guignard
opened the second half with a three-pointer, giving UTA a
five-point advantage, but the Islanders would eventually tie the
game at 36 on a three-pointer by William Bullard with 17:23 to
go.
A&M-Corpus
Christi held the lead until
Larry Posey gave the Mavericks a 45-44 lead with just over 10
minutes to go, but Bullard sank another three point basket shortly
after to give the Islanders a two point advantage.
Vereen would
give UTA a five point lead with just under two minutes to play
after sinking the front end of a pair of free throws, but a Chris
Daniels three-pointer with 1:44 to go cut the lead to 57-55. "Chris had the open look and
made it, so we wanted to run the same play again,"
Clark said. "The play
worked the way we wanted it to, but his shot didn't fall the second
time."
Daniels final
three-point attempt of the day rimmed out with 49 seconds to
play.
"Today we just
didn't execute the way we have in the past two games. We sometimes don't play as in control
as I want us to play and that can hinder us at times and I think it
did down the stretch," Clark said.
The Islanders
will have a week off before hosting UTSA for their annual
homecoming game on Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. The game will be televised regionally
on FSN Southwest.
