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SPORTS
| UPDATED JAN. 24
Men’s Basketball
Mavericks fall to foul trouble early,
often
The Southwest Texas Bobcats race
by the team, 58-53, marking the Mavs’ fourth straight loss.
By Angel
Verdejo
The Shorthorn Sports editor
With four minutes remaining in the second half, UTA forward Mack
Callier collided under the goal with Southwest Texas’ David
Sykes.
Callier braced his knee. Then he went down.
So did the Mavericks on Thursday.
UTA couldn’t get its shots to fall when the team needed them
and couldn’t keep the ball.
The Mavericks (6-9, 3-4 Southland Conference) lost their fourth-straight
game, this time a 58-53 defeat to the Bobcats (10-5, 5-3).
“It’s the same old story,” coach Eddie McCarter said.
“We took some very good shots. They just didn’t go.”
The Mavericks found themselves in foul trouble early and often.
Forward Donny Beacham, a key reserve who has averaged nearly 20
minutes and four rebounds per conference game, had four first-half
fouls. It was junior Derrick Obasohan who fouled out first though,
exiting the game at the five-and-a-half-minute mark.
Callier, who would go to the line after his fall, couldn’t
make his first free-throw attempt, and the more than 1,200 in attendance
saw the pain in his face. The team’s captain would come out,
replaced by freshman Brady Dawkins, who missed the second shot.
UTA was down 55-49 with less than a minute to play when senior guard
Josh Daniel took the ball from one end of the gym to the other,
pulling the Mavericks to within four. With time running out, though,
all UTA could do was pressure the Southwest Texas offense, intentionally
foul the players and hope the Bobcats would miss their free throws.
Southwest Texas made three final shots to pull away and win the
game.
“We couldn’t get the ball to the basket,” Daniel
said. “There’re a lot of things we can look back on that
went wrong.”
Junior center Roy Johnson and Callier were able to contribute to
the offensive effort. The pair scored 19 combined first-half points
and finished the game with 13 and 14 respectively.
UTA shot 50 percent in the first half and held the Bobcats to only
seven shots in 28 attempts. In the final half, the roles reversed
as Southwest Texas shot 43 percent and the Mavericks 36.
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