It is no secret that in Division I games in 2022-23, the UT Arlington Mavericks have struggled offensively.
The Mavericks scored 66 points in the season opener at Oklahoma State. Most of those came late in the game when the outcome was not in doubt. And against Nevada on Friday, the Mavericks scored just 43 points.
Along with that, the first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase was an offensive struggle, as well.
But, on Tuesday, Brandyn Talbot and Aaron Cash made sure a similar result wouldn’t happen.
Talbot had a team-high 15 points, Cash chipped in 14 points and the Mavericks beat Northern Kentucky, 60-56 at Hertz Arena on Tuesday afternoon.
“Great win for our basketball team,” UTA head coach Greg Young said. “We knew coming down here, we’d get three quality opponents. Obviously, we let one get away from us last night. But, for our players to come back and be resilient and beat a really good Northern Kentucky team … really proud of our team. Proud that we were able to find a way to win. It’s been a hard couple of days. We struggled to score the ball the last two games. But we didn’t struggle tonight.”
Young is right. The Mavericks didn’t struggle to score on Tuesday afternoon. Led by Talbot, who was 5-8 from the field, the Mavericks shot nearly 46 percent from the field. In fact, all five of Talbot’s field goals were 3-pointers. The fifth one sealed the win for the Mavericks.
Following Marques Warrick’s layup that gave Northern Kentucky a 52-49 lead with 3:40 to play, Aaron Cash came alive for the Mavericks.
Cash hit a 3-pointer and then threw down a two-handed dunk off a loose ball to give the Mavericks a 54-52 lead.
.@_aaroncash hammers one down for the @FASTSIGNS North Arlington Statement Play of the Game ?? pic.twitter.com/77RsjYL4Yp
— UTA Men’s Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) November 22, 2022
With UTA leading by a point with 27 seconds to play, Talbot knocked down his fifth 3-pointer of the game to make it a four-point cushion.
BT FOR THREEEEEEEEE‼️
? @FloHoops > https://t.co/WICsf2d3si pic.twitter.com/URXwTvrVdh
— UTA Men’s Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) November 22, 2022
And UTA got a Marion Humphrey-steal to seal the win over Northern Kentucky.
With the win, UTA improves to 3-3 overall and gets its first Division I win of the 2022-23 season.
Dario Domingos had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks. Shemar Wilson had nine points and five rebounds. And it was Wilson’s layup with 48 seconds to play that gave UTA the lead for good.
The Mavericks will face East Carolina on Wednesday in the fifth place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
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