Chendall Weaver and the UT Arlington Mavericks have not played well at College Park Center all season.
In fact, Weaver and the Mavs had just one win over a Division I opponent at home in 2022-23.
Perhaps it was having a week off. Or, maybe it was simply a case of realizing it was time to take care of business at home.
Whatever it was, Weaver and the Mavs finally got it done at College Park Center.
Weaver finished with a game-high 21 points and UTA rode a big first half to a 70-58 win over Sam Houston on Saturday afternoon.
“Good win,” UTA head coach Greg Young said. “Anytime you win a conference game, it’s a good win. There’s no easy games in this league. It’s a really good league…I was so proud of our players and how they played, collectively. We had a real determination to defend tonight.
Here is how it went: UT Arlington played its best first half of the season and rode the way to the big win.
End of story.
Sure, that is basically the story in a nutshell.
But, there is a whole lot more to it.
The Mavericks shot the lights out in the first half. 58.6 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point land.
“I thought we played with some rhythm and flow offensively in the first half,” Young said. “Good win for our basketball team.”
The Mavs were 6-10 from distance in the first half and had 13 assists on 17 made baskets.
Chendall Weaver had 11 first-half points as the Mavs scored the most first half points in a game against Division I competition in 2022-23.
Kyron Gibson capped off the impressive first half with a steal and layup. In fact, Gibson’s layup capped off a 15-3 run to end the first half as the Mavs went to the locker room with a 46-28 lead.
That 18-point halftime lead was enough to pull off arguably the biggest win of the season for the Mavs.
Sam Houston was 50 in the NET and second in the resume seeding system. The Bearkats flirted with disaster on Wednesday at UTRGV.
Perhaps that emotional win came into play at College Park Center on Saturday afternoon. Perhaps it didn’t.
Either way, Jason Hooten’s squad struggled to get stops in the first half, especially down the stretch.
And UT Arlington took advantage.
Shemar Wilson started the run with a layup. Then, Chendall Weaver scored five straight points to give the Mavs a 38-25 lead. Cam Huefner broke the 3-minute scoring drought for the Bearkats with a 3-pointer.
But, Weaver and Wilson scored the next six points before Kyron Gibson ended the first half with the steal and layup.
Sam Houston started the second half with an 11-2 run.
But Aaron Cash knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 14 with 14:34 to play.
Qua Grant’s free throws with 3:45 to play cut the deficit to five.
But, that was as close as Sam Houston would get.
Off a long rebound, Shemar Wilson found a streaking Montez Young Jr. for a two-handed flush.
And Chendall Weaver played the role of closer down the stretch. Weaver scored six straight points to give UTA a 69-58 lead with 46 seconds to play.
Dialed up a ?????@pcastro_21 ⬆️ @Ch3ndalll pic.twitter.com/Q8zZIiFZo3
— UTA Men’s Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) February 4, 2023
Pedro Castro capped the scoring with a free throw with 33 seconds to play.
Kyron Gibson was the only other Maverick in double figures with 10 points.
Cam Huefner led Sam Houston with 15 points and seven rebounds. Lamar Wilkerson was also in double figures with 12 points.
Sam Houston falls to 17-6 overall and 7-4 in WAC play. The Bearkats are off for a week before heading to ACU next Saturday.
UT Arlington improves to 8-15 overall and 3-7 in WAC play. The Mavs host Tarleton on Monday in a makeup game from Wednesday night due to weather.
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