UTA hangs on for 8th straight, 56-51 over Bradley
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) Kevin Hervey had 15 points and 14 rebounds and his jumper with 14 seconds left iced UTA's 56-51 win over Bradley on Friday night.
Hervey capped the scoring for the Mavericks (9-3). The Braves (5-6) missed two shots in the final seconds and UT Arlington won its eighth straight.
Bradley used a 9-2 run to get within 52-49 on Antoine Pittman's basket with 1:19 left. UTA's Erick Neal and Bradley's Donte Thomas traded a pair of free throws before Hervey's jumper put it out of reach for the Braves.
The Mavericks opened the game on a 12-0 run, but the Braves answered and had their only lead of the game at 16-15. UT Arlington led 31-24 at halftime and kept its lead between 1 and 8 points through the second half.
Neal added 13 points for the Mavericks. Pittman led the Braves with 14.
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Arkansas State beats Central Arkansas 89-77
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) Devin Carter scored 20 points and made 4 of 13 3-pointers, Deven Simms tied his career best with 19 points, and Arkansas State used a big second-half run to beat Central Arkansas 89-77 on Friday night for its best start since 2003-04.
Trailing by five at halftime, Central Arkansas rallied to a 52-51 lead on Derreck Brooks' 3-point play and the Bears led 59-55 on his 3-pointer with 13:19 left. Connor Kern made back-to-back 3-pointers, Simms made a 3 and the Red Wolves mounted a 21-4 run over 7:24 to lead 79-65 with 5:19 left and held on.
Kern scored 11 points with 3 of 5 3-pointers, Tamas Bruce added 10 points and Donte Thomas made a career-high 13 assists for the Red Wolves (9-2).
Brooks finished with 12 points and Jeff Lowery and Jordan Howard added 11 apiece for the Bears (1-10), who have lost seven straight.
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Cunningham scores 20; Samford holds off South Alabama 82-79
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Christen Cunningham scored 20 points and Samford held off South Alabama 82-79 on Friday night for its fourth straight win.
Samford (7-3) led by as many as 15 points and never trailed in the second half. Shaq Calhoun made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to pull South Alabama to 79-77. Josh Sharkey stretched Samford's lead to 81-77 on a pair of free throws, and the Jaguars' Nick Stover made two from the line to make it 81-79 with 3.6 seconds left. Cunningham added a free throw with two seconds left to seal it.
Cunningham was 5 of 7 from the field and made 10 of 11 free throws. Sharkey had 15 points.
Stover scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting to lead South Alabama (6-5), which has lost four straight. Calhoun had 20 points and Georgi Boyanov added 16 points.