UT Arlington men beat UC Irvine 70-62

Sophomore Drew Charles scored 10 of his career-high 15 points in the final 4:02 and freshman Kevin Hervey added 15 more to lead UT Arlington past UC Irvine 70-62 Saturday night.

Charles was 4 of 4 from the field, including three 3-pointers, and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.

Luke Nelson’s 3-pointer gave UC Irvine (4-4) a 57-53 lead with about 6 minutes to play.

Charles scored eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, during a 12-3 run that gave UT Arlington (5-4) a 66-60 lead with 31 seconds left.

A pair of Jaron Martin free throws 8 seconds later made it 66-62, but Greg Gainey and Charles made two free throws apiece to seal it.

UC Irvine’s Mamadou Ndiaye, the team’s leading scorer (12 per game) and shot blocker (two per game) missed his third consecutive game with a foot injury. Alex Young had a career-high six steals for the Anteaters.

The Mavericks’ second consecutive win snapped a three-game road losing streak. The Anteaters (4-4) had beaten UTA two years ago in Arlington.

“We came into their house and the guys pulled it out,” UTA Scott Cross said. “I’m really proud of them. It was an all-around game. We played very good defensively. The only thing that hurt us was turnovers and offensive rebounds.”

Charles did his damage off the bench and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer for a 63-60 edge with 55 seconds left.

“It was a great win for us to come all the way from Texas and beat these guys,” Charles said. “It shows you how good we can be. That’s a good team.”

The Mavericks nailed down the victory with free throws from Charles, guard Lonnie McClanahan and forward Greg Gainey. UTA was down 57-53 before ending the game with a 17-5 run.

“I knew Drew Charles was going to have a great game the way he played in practice,” Cross said.

The Mavericks shot 49 percent for the game and limited UCI to 35.6 percent. McClanahan scored eight points, guard Johnny Hill had seven points and six turnovers, and guard Kaelon Wilson grabbed seven rebounds in his first start.

The Mavericks return home to College Park Center at 2 p.m. Saturday to face Howard Payne in the final nonconference game.

This story was originally published December 14, 2014 at 1:14 AM with the headline "UT Arlington men beat UC Irvine 70-62."