The UT Arlington Mavericks stunned the No. 12 Saint Mary’s Gaels Thursday night, 65-51, to hand them their first loss of the 2016-2017 season.
It was the story of two historic moments for two very different teams. One team perennially flew under the radar and started the season 6-0, entering its seventh game ranked No. 12, the highest ranking for the program since 1958. The other team had never managed a win against a Top 25 program. Until now.
The UT Arlington Mavericks beat No. 12 Saint Mary’s 65-51 on Thursday night. UTA improved to 8-4, while Saint Mary’s notched their first loss of the season with a 6-1 record.
The Saint Mary’s Gaels were strapped with their first loss of the season at home at the hands of UT Arlington, a team that started the season 1-3 but came into Thursday’s game riding a six-game winning streak. The Gaels were coming off a big win at Stanford on Nov. 30 but haven’t played since then given the scheduled break for final exams.
The Gaels’ Jock Landale had been averaging 19.7 points per game but was held to just 14 points and was 3-for-10 from the floor against the Mavericks. The Gaels were limited to just 11 assists. On the other side, the Mavs’ Erick Neal contributed 13 points and eight assists.
Saint Mary’s trailed UT Arlington most of the game and finished the first half trailing 36-23. They were able to take the lead midway through the second half, using an 11-3 run to gain momentum and jump out to a 52-41 lead.
It wasn’t enough, though, because with every run the Mavericks came back with solid shooting from the perimeter and the paint. Their scrappy play was too much for the Gaels. UT Arlington has learned to stay sharp through the entire game after losing three games at the start of the season while ending the first half by double digit leads.
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Saint Mary’s hosts the UC Irvine Anteaters on Sunday while UT Arlington takes a long break until Dec. 16 when they travel to Bradley.