UTA men climb out of 15-point hole to win at Appalachian State

Kevin Hervey scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as UT Arlington overcame a 15-point deficit to defeat Appalachian State 83-67 on Saturday.

Kaelon Wilson added 15 points, while Jalen Jones and Drew Charles finished with 11 each for UTA (16-5, 6-2 Sun Belt). Hervey was 8 of 15 from the field and marked his seventh double-double of the season.

The Mavericks took their first lead of the game on Wilson’s 3-point play to go up 44-43 with 13:34 left in the second half. The lead traded twice more over the next three minutes before Jorge Bilbao sank a pair of free throws to put UTA on top for good, 50-48, and the Mavericks padded it down the stretch.

Appalachian State (6-13, 1-7) led 19-7 after the first 10 minutes and by 15, 31-16, with 3:22 left in the first half. UTA cut the deficit at halftime to 32-24.

“You have to give Appalachian State a ton of credit,” UTA coach Scott Cross said, via utamavs.com. “You could tell they scouted us very, very well. They were prepared for everything we ran.

He said that in the second half, “We were able to get a few stops and play in transition. When we do that, we are a lot better. We were also able to get our four-man to set a few ball screens. That helped our guards get going. The bottom line is that we stepped up and made plays.”

Hervey rolled an ankle during the game, but Cross said, “I think he’ll be fine.”

Hervey said when the team was down 15 in the first half, “We just needed to keep chipping away at their lead. We didn’t panic. We’ve been there before.”

Ronshad Shabazz led Appalachian State with 33 points, including a career-high eight 3-pointers. Griffin Kinney had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.

The Mavericks play at Coastal Carolina on Monday before returning home for a rivalry game against Texas Stte on Feb. 4.

Go here for the final stats from UTAmavs.com.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 7:30 PM with the headline "UTA men climb out of 15-point hole to win at Appalachian State."