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NEWS
| March 04, 2004
Mavs
secure 2nd tournament seat
They can be in 1st place if the
top-ranked Lions lose.
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| The Shorthorn: Brandon Wade |
| Chemistry junior Justin Pickering,
from left, kinesiology freshman Cody Dean and Biology
junior Sean Jones cheer for a free pizza from Nizza Pizza
on Wednesday night at Texas Hall. |
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By Britney
Tabor
The Shorthorn Staff
The Mavericks basketball team extended its winning streak to eight
games and secured at least the No. 2 seed in the conference postseason
tournament with an 81-53 win over Sam Houston State on Wednesday
night.
The Mavs will start the first round of the conference tournament
at 7 p.m. Monday at Texas Hall.
The first-place Southeastern Louisiana Lions lost to McNeese State
71-68 on Wednesday night, and their next game is Friday at UT-San
Antonio. If the Lions lose, UTA will be in a three-way tie for first
place with Southeastern and UT-San Antonio. Because the Mavs have
beaten both teams in their earlier meetings, they would win the
tie-breaker to enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Senior guard Keith Howell said after hearing about the Lions’
loss that it gave the Mavericks the inspiration to finish the Bearkats
by a big margin.
“That’s what spurred us home, and we just concentrated
our focus on trying to win games,” he said.
The Mavs started the first half of the game with aggressive defensive
and blocking skills. They led by as much as 15 in the half and went
into halftime with a 35-21 lead. The Mavericks proved why they are
the No. 1 team in the conference in defensive boards as they collected
17 defensive rebounds in the second half.
Senior center Roy Johnson said playing tough defense is what impacted
the team’s performance.
“It all starts with defense,” he said. “Defense
definitely set the tone because we had a couple of steals and a
couple of blocks, and I just think defense furthered us along from
the beginning.”
UTA started the first half of conference play with a 3-5 record
but ended on an 8-game winning streak. Leading for the Mavs were
senior forwards Donny Beacham with 15 points, Derrick Obasohan with
13, and senior guard Howell with 14. UTA shot 48 percent from the
floor, 44 percent from behind the arc and 68 percent from the free-throw
line.
Coach Eddie McCarter said his team is ready for the postseason tournament.
He said if a team enters the tournament unprepared, then it’s
done.
“We’ve been in the tournament, and we know we’ve
got to win to keep playing,” McCarter said. “I don’t
think we feel pressure because we know that we can play with anybody
in the league when we match their intensity.”
CORRECTION
The headline on this story should have read “Mavs
secure 2nd tournament seed.”
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