Saturday, November 18
UTA 89, BYU 75
PROVO, Utah -- For the second time in last eight months, UTA visited the Marriott Center and, for the second straight time, came away with a convincing victory.
Five different UTA players scored in double figures and the hot-shooting Mavericks led by as many as 25 points in an 89-75 win over the Cougars in front of 13,636 BYU faithful. Seniors Kevin Hervey and Erick Neal led the way for the Mavericks offensively with 23 and 21 points, respectively.
UTA improved to 2-0 on the season, while BYU fell to 2-1 following impressive victories against Mississippi Valley State and Princeton to open the year. The Cougars entered tonight's game allowing just 58.5 points and limiting their first two opponents to just 37.6 percent shooting.
Neal registered his second straight double-double with his 11 assist outing, while Hervey fell just one shy of his double-double with 9 rebounds. Nathan Hawkins added 11 points, while Kaelon Wilson and Johnny Hamilton added 10 apiece.
As a team, UTA shot 54.1 percent from the field and a warm 60 percent from behind the 3-point arc. The Mavericks also went 11-for-15 from the free throw line and outrebounded BYU by a slim 33-31 margin.
Elijan Bryant led BYU with 15 points as the Cougars shot just 43 percent for the game and a cool 22.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc.
The game wasn't too different from last season's National Invitation Tournament first round game in which the Mavericks claimed a high-scoring 105-89 win to end the Cougars' season.
BYU led for most of the first 6:44 off the game, until a Wilson 3-pointer tied the game at 13-apiece. The Cougars tied the game again at 15-15 and a Yoeli Childs jumper pulled BYU to within two points at 19-7 with 9:37 remaining in the half.
The Mavericks then went on a 13-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Neal that put UTA ahead 32-17 with 4:21 left. BYU's Dalton Nixon make a layup that ended the Cougars scoring drought that lasted almost six minutes.
In the second half, BYU cut the lead to 15 points on another layup by Nixon before the Mavericks went on a 13-3 run that pushed their lead to a game-high 25 points with 12:33 remaining. The two teams traded baskets for the next 6 minutes until BYU closed out the game with a 12-6 run over the last 2:20 to decide the final score.
Texas State 75, UT Rio Grande Valley 58
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State men’s basketball team won its first game of the 2017-18 season Saturday afternoon after defeating UT Rio Grande Valley 75-58 in Strahan Coliseum. Four Bobcats reached double-figures led by Nijal Pearson’s double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Both Immanuel King and Nedeljko Prijovic scored 13 points apiece and Eric Terry added 10 points off the bench.
With the victory, TXST is now 1-2 on the season while the Vaqueros drop to 2-2. It was also the 60 win for Danny Kaspar as the head coach of the Bobcats to tie him for eighth on the school’s career list with Joe B. Cheaney (1935-39, 43).
Prijovic scored the first two baskets of the game while the defense held UTRGV scoreless for the first 6:34 of the game. The fastbreak layup from Jordan Jackson cut the Bobcats’ lead to 4-2. That would be as close as the visitors would get as TXST scored the next seven points, capped off by a three-pointer from Pearson.
The largest lead of the first half for the Bobcats came with 27 seconds left on the clock. Tre’Larenz Nottingham knocked down his lone made three-pointer of the game to put the team ahead 34-21. The Vaqueros answered back with a triple of their own the next time down the court to close out the scoring for the period.
After UTRGV’s Nick Dixon scored the first points of the second half on a jumper in the paint, TXST went on a 7-0 run. Tyler Blount made his only three-pointer of the contest during the stretch and Prijovic capped it off with an old-fashion three-point play.
Nick Hoffman converted a three-pointer with 16:44 remaining in the game to cut the Bobcats’ advantage to nine. A slam by King the following trip down the court gave TXST a double-digit lead that the team would maintain for the rest of the game.
The largest lead for the Bobcats in the game was 19 at 75-56. It came with 1:38 left on the clock when Pearson found King for a layup.
Both King and Prijovic almost joined Pearson in having a double-double. Prijovic grabbed nine rebounds and King retrieved eight. The senior also blocked the lone shot in the game for TXST.
Coming off the bench, Alex Peacock added eight points behind a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line. Nottingham dished out a team-high three assists.
Finishing with a team best two steals were Marlin Davis and Pearson.
Overall, the Bobcats shot 25-for-55 (45.5%) from the field and converted 22-of-30 (73.3%) free throw line. They also outrebounded UTRGV 40-27 with a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The offensive boards for TXST led to 22 second chance points while the Vaqueros totaled eight second chance points.
Next up for the Bobcats is a trip to California next week for three games to conclude the Men Against Breast Cancer Showcase. First up is a meeting with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday at 9 p.m. CT. All three contests will be played on the campus of the University of the Pacific inside the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Vermont 80, Coastal Carolina 67
Nassau, Bahamas - Zac Cuthbertson scored a game-high 23 points and had another game-high 13 rebounds, but it was not enough as Coastal Carolina fell to highly-regarded Vermont 80-67.
Jaylen Shaw scored 16 points and Artur Labinowicz added 10.
CCU had a bad night shooting, finishing the game shooting 43 percent from the field, and only hit six of their 18 three point field goals for 33 percent.
CCU was out shot at the free throw line 27-12, but did manage to hit 11 of their free throws.
Vermont had four players in double digits with Ernie Duncan leading the team with 19. Trae Bell-Haynes and Drew Urquhart scored 15 each and Payton Henson added 11 as the Catamounts shot 51 percent from the field.
Following a Jaylen Shaw steal and score followed by a Cuthbertson goal, the Chanticleers held a 54-53 lead with 10:17 left in the game.
That would be the last time CCU would lead as Vermont went on a 10-0 run to lead 63-54 with eight minutes left, and the Chants were never able to catch back up.
The first half was a battle as both teams played hard and aggressive on both ends of the court. Both teams made contested shots and both teams hit several threes, but it was a Jaylen Shaw three at the horn to send the Chanticleers into the locker room with a 38-37 lead.
The game was tied three times and there were 13 lead changes in the first 20 minutes.
Cuthbertson had 13 points and seven rebounds while Shaw added 10 in the first 20 minutes.
CCU finished the half shooting 44 percent from the field, but hit five of its 10 three point field goals and was five-of-six at the free throw line.
The Catamounts connected on six three point field goals and hit 12 of its 24 first half field goals for 50 percent. Henson had seven points and Everett Duncan added six.
CCU will play in the third place game tomorrow at 5 p.m. They will meet the loser of the Northern Kentucky -- Iona game.
South Alabama 68, Maine 46
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – University of South Alabama sophomore Josh Ajayi recorded 18 points and the Jaguar defense held Maine to 32.7 percent shooting in a 68-46 victory Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Jags, who even their record at 2-2, went on a 7-0 run to end the first half and lead by 10 at the break, then used another 7-0 run midway through the second half to take an unsurmountable 16-point advantage.
Ajayi shot 8 for 16 from the floor and added six rebounds. Junior Rodrick Sikes scored 15 points off the bench, sophomore Trhae Mitchell had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and sophomore Jordan Andrews tallied 10 points and five helpers.
Grand Canyon 76, Little Rock 51
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A cold shooting night led to an early Little Rock deficit, one the Trojans couldn’t climb out of as Little Rock drops a 76-51 decision to Grand Canyon. With the loss, Little Rock falls to 0-3 on the season with Grand Canyon improving to 3-0.
Little Rock struggled to find a consistent rhythm all evening, shooting just 27.3 percent from the floor (15-of-55) and hitting just three of its 18 three-point attempts (16.7 percent). By contrast, Grand Canyon shot 51.1 percent from the floor and hit eight of its first 14 three-point attempts while going 20-for-28 from the free throw line.
Andre Jones was the only Trojan to finish in double figures, finishing with 11 points, with Camron Reedus and Ben Marcus each registering eight points. Marcus tied for the team lead with five rebounds, matched by Oliver Black’s five to go along with his five points, with Cameron Corcoran adding a career-high seven in the second half.
In the paint, an area where Little Rock thrived its first two games of the season, the Trojans were outscored 32-18. Grand Canyon’s paint dominance continued with eight blocks on the night as six different Lopes recorded a swat.
Knowing the importance of a fast start against an energetic crowd, Marcus took matters into his own hands early, scoring Little Rock’s first six points as the Trojans raced out to the early 6-2 lead. But Little Rock’s shooting went cold and Grand Canyon heated up as the Lopes led by as many as 21 in the opening half, taking a 42-23 lead into the intermission.
The Trojans hit just eight of their 31 shots in the opening 20 minutes while going 0-for-7 from three-point range, contrasted by 14-of-25 shooting for Grand Canyon, which included going 6-of-11 from three-point range.
It didn’t play out any better in the second half, however, as Little Rock found itself trailing by as many as 31, ultimately falling by the 76-51 margin. The Trojans shot 29.2 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes but one bright spot was seeing nine different Little Rock players score, a handful of which saw their first significant action in Trojan uniforms.
Grand Canyon was led by preseason WAC Player of the Year Joshua Braun’s 29 points, hitting nine of his 11 shots and five-of-seven from three point range. Casey Benson was the only other Lope to finish in double figures with 10.
Little Rock wraps up its three-game road swing in California, traveling to San Diego to meet the Toreros in the second game of their involvement of the Grand Canyon Classic. Tip-off in San Diego is set for 9 p.m. CT Monday, November 20.