Jan. 17, 2008

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Tex. - Junior forward Ryan Bathie had a career high 27-points, but it was not enough to lift the Colonels over the Mavericks on Thursday night in Texas Hall as Nicholls lost, 69-60, to Texas-Arlington.

Bathie scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, and for the game was 9-of-19 from field goal range and 8-of-17 from three-point territory. The Melbourne, Australia native also was also 1-of-2 from the charity strip, and hauled in five rebounds for Nicholls (6-12, 1-2) in the loss.

True freshman Anatoly Bose was the only other Colonel to cross the decade mark as he was in double-figures for the fifth consecutive game with 16 off the bench. Bose played 28 minutes and was perfect from the free throw line with a 5-of-5 showing.

"We didn't execute the way we wanted to in the first half and got behind early," said head coach J.P. Piper. "The open looks were there for us, but we didn't knock down enough of them. UTA is a very well coached and athletic team, and they played like it tonight."

Leading the way for the Mavericks (11-4, 1-2) was Rod Epps with 19-points as he was 5-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three-point land. Epps also had a game best five assists, while senior Jermaine Griffin came off the bench to score 10-points to round out the Mavericks double-digit scorers. Griffin also had eight rebounds and two blocks in bench work, while Larry Posey had a game high nine rebounds in the win.

The second half was up and down for both teams as Nicholls scored the first six points of the final period in regulation, but Texas-Arlington answered with a 9-0 run of their own and never looked back. The Mavericks increased their lead to as many as 18 at the 10:10 mark, 52-34, before defeating the Colonels 69-60 to gain their first win in conference play in the 2007-08 season.

In the first half, Nicholls could not find a rhythm shooting as they shot 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from field goal range and a measly 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from downtown. It was the exact opposite for Texas Arlington as they shot 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from the floor and 42.9 percent (3-of-7) from three-point land to go into the locker room at halftime with a 32-21 lead. The Mavericks went on an 11-2 run to open up the game, which helped aid their 11-point halftime lead.

Leading all scorers at the half way point was the Mavericks' Rod Epps with 10, while Bathie led the Colonels with six. Also at the midway point, UTA's Posey had six of the Mavericks' 18 rebounds.

For the game, UTA shot 47.8 percent (22-of-46) from field goal range to Nicholls' 34.5 percent (20-of-58) mark. The Mavericks also out rebounded the Colonels 36-to-31, while Nicholls only committed 19 turnovers to Texas-Arlington's 23.

The Colonels will be back in action on Saturday Jan. 19 at Texas State. Tip-off is for 4 p.m. in San Marcos, Tex., and all the action can be heard on 105.9 FM KBZE and 690 AM KTIB with pre-game beginning at 3:45 p.m. The GameTracker link will also be available for fans who want to follow the game live statistically on the internet.