Wednesday, November 26, 1997

Texas-Arlington 96, McMurry 77

ARLINGTON -- Scott Cross scored a career-high 25 points Tuesday night, leading the University of Texas-Arlington to a 96-77 victory over McMurry University.

Cross hit 8 of 15 shots from the field and all eight free-throw attempts for the Mavericks (1-3).

Texas-Arlington led only 44-40 at halftime before pulling away in the second half with 56-percent shooting and 24 McMurry turnovers.

The Mavericks scored the first six points of the second half to take a 50-40 lead, but McMurry cut the deficit to two points on three different occasions.

Daniel Martinez nailed a 3-pointer to make it 57-55 with 11:44 to go.

Martinez then stole the ball, but the Indians missed four straight shots that could have tied the game.

UTA extended the lead to 63-57, but a pair of layups by Tyerone Washington cut the margin again to two, 63-61. McMurry pulled to within two, 64-62, for the final time with 8:36 left on a free throw by Abram Aragon.

But the Mavericks pulled away in the final eight minutes.

The Indians (2-1) were led by Washington with 27 points. JoJo Villearreal scored 14 for McMurry, while Martinez added 11.

MCMURRY (2-1) -- Aragon 3-5 1-3 7, Kikunga 3-7 0-0 6, Tudman 2-4 4-6 8, Martinez 3-7 3-5 11, T.Washington 8-21 6-6 27, Hoffpauir 0-0 0-0 0, Graham 0-0 0-0 0, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Villarreal 5-13 0-0 14, Callis 2-5 0-0 4, Liverett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 14-20 77.

TEXAS-ARLINGTON (1-3) -- Harris 3-7 3-4 9, B.Washington 6-12 2-5 14, Hiple 5-7 2-2 12, Isaac 1-3 0-0 2, Cross 8-15 8-8 25, Johnson 2-6 0-0 4, Gwinn 1-4 0-0 3, Durham 4-8 0-0 10, Jones 4-9 3-4 13, Bolden 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 36-74 18-23 96.

Halftime--UTA 44, McMurry 40. 3-Point goals--McMurry 11-29 (Kikunga 0-2, Martinez 2-5, T.Washington 5-13, Villarreal 4-9), UTA 6-16 (Harris 0-1, Cross 1-4, Johnson 0-2, Gwinn 1-2, Durham 2-3, Jones 2-4). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--McMurry 38 (Tudman 6), UTA 46 (B.Washington 13). Assists--McMurry 17 (Martinez, T.Washington 6), UTA 16 (Johnson 6). Total fouls--McMurry 20, UTA 18. A--652.