UTA men, women take tumbles with second-half disappointments

A second-half letdown was costly for the visitors as UT Arlington fell to Georgia Southern 74-59 on Saturday in Statesboro, Ga.

UTA (13-10, 4-6 Sun Belt) owned a slim 31-29 advantage at halftime but Georgia Southern (15-7, 6-3 Sun Belt) took a 42-40 lead on a 3-pointer with 12 minutes to play and never gave it up.

One bright spot in UTA’s loss was the effort of senior Kevin Hervey who fired in a game-high 29 points and corralled eight rebounds. Seven-foot center Link Kabadyundi had 11 rebounds and was 4-4 from the floor for eight points in his first start for UTA.

But other numbers for UTA weren’t as impressive. The Mavericks were outrebounded 42-31, shot only 35 percent from the floor in the second half and ended with 19 turnovers, their second-most this season.

UTA looks to bounce back as they return to action Thursday against Appalachian State at College Park Center with a 7:15 p.m. tipoff.

Georgia Southern 73, UTA women 68: While the UTA women’s winning streak was bound to end, few probably expected it to stop at the hands of Georgia Southern, a team that started the day winless in Sun Belt play.

But it did, despite UTA beginning the fourth quarter with the lead (54-51), a situation in which the Mavs were unbeaten (9-0) this season. And despite the efforts of senior Rebekah VanDijk who had 20 points, 10 rebounds and an 8-for-8 shooting night from the field.

Georgia Southern improves to 4-16 overall and 1-8 in the Sun Belt. UTA (11-10, 5-5), which had won four in a row before Saturday, will host Appalachian State on Thursday.

This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 10:01 PM with the headline "UTA men, women take tumbles with second-half disappointments."