UTA men fall short at South Alabama

Ken Williams finished with a career-high 29 points, including six 3-pointers, to lead South Alabama to a 97-91 win over UT Arlington on Saturday.

Georgi Boyanov added 17 points and five rebounds, Taishaun Johnson had 16 points, including making 11 of 16 from the free throw line, and John Brown finished with 12 for South Alabama (9-17, 7-8 Sun Belt).

The Jaguars assisted on 17 of their 27 made baskets, despite 20 turnovers.

South Alabama carried a 20-point lead into halftime, but UTA’s 11-0 run midway through the second half cut the lead to single digits. With under a minute left, Johnson and Brown made three free throws apiece to hold on.

“In the first half, we had no intensity,” UTA coach Scott Cross said. “Our guys could not stay in front of their guards. They were treating us like we were cones. They were just dribbling around us and shooting it right in our face.”

Lonnie McClanahan had 20 points, Erick Neal added 16, including four 3s, and Kevin Hervey finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks (14-10, 8-6).

“It’s hard to beat a team when they have a great shooting night like that,” Cross said. “You have to give them credit, but we didn’t do a very good job. We didn’t play with the toughness needed to win on the road.”

This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 8:31 PM with the headline "UTA men fall short at South Alabama."