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SPORTS
| february 13, 2004
Men's Basketballl
Men get 1st conference road win
The Mavs beat the McNeese Cowboys
89-78 in Lake Charles, La., and look for 3 in a row.
By Britney
Tabor
The Shorthorn Staff
The Mavericks basketball team went in search of its first Southland
Conference road win and found it Thursday night at McNeese State.
The Mavs defeated the Cowboys 89-78 to reach their third highest
score of the season. This is the Mavs’ second road win of
the season overall.
“I felt good about the game because it was one of our best
efforts,” coach Eddie McCarter said. “It came at a critical
time, and hopefully we can build on this and get a win on Saturday.”
Leading the Mavericks in scoring were senior forward Derrick Obasohan
with 23 points, senior forward Donny Beacham with 18 and sophomore
guard Jarrett Howell with 14. The team scored beyond its average
of 63 points on the road and 80 points at home.
Beacham, who didn’t know if he would play Thursday because
of an injury that occurred Saturday, said he didn’t come into
the game expecting to score a lot but he was looking to pass the
ball more. As the game went on, he said the Cowboys’ defense
made it easy for him to get to the goals. Beacham attributes his
18 points to his teammates who dished out assist and did whatever
was necessary to win.
“We feel that if we want to compete in conference, we had
to win road games, and this was a big step for us,” he said.
“Everybody did their job, and it made it a lot easier for
me.”
The Mavericks had a 51 percent field goal average, a 50 percent
three-point average and an 80 percent average from the charity stripe.
UTA also used smaller players from the bench such as Howell, freshman
guard Stephen Floyd and sophomore guard Brady Dawkins to contribute
a total of 28 points to the game. The Cowboys, scored 50 percent
in field goals, 41 percent in three-point shooting and 76 percent
in free throws.
McCarter said he felt good about how the team played to together.
It also excited him to see his younger players take what they learned
in practice and step up to have a good game, he said.
“I thought we played with more consistency than any other
game this season,” McCarter said.
The Mavericks will return to action at noon Saturday when they play
a Fox Sports Net televised game at Texas Hall against the Southland
Conference No. 2 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. This will be the
second time the teams have met this season. In the first game, SFA
won 71-44.
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