| Senior Travis Gabbidon scored 18 in the 84-82 loss at UT Arlington. |
ARLINGTON ?Senior Travis Gabbidon led three Roadrunners in double figures with 18 points, but Marquez Haynes poured in a game-high 27, including the game-winning basket with 4.4 seconds to play, to lead UT Arlington to an 84-82 victory over UTSA on Saturday afternoon at Texas Hall.
Trailing, 82-80, with the shot clock turned off, Gabbidon was fouled on a shot attempt and made both free throws to knot the score with 10 seconds remaining. Guignard took the inbound pass and found Haynes on the right wing and the Irving native drained a 17-foot jumper with 4.4 ticks left to give the Mavericks a two-point lead.
Sophomore Devin Gibson, who scored 10 in his first game back since Jan. 24, dribbled the length of the floor but his off-balance desperation shot from near the 3-point line rimmed out as time expired.
The heartbreaking loss dropped the Roadrunners to 15-8 overall and 6-4 in Southland Conference play. UTA improved to 13-10 and 6-4 in sweeping the regular season series from UTSA by a combined five points.
Gabbidon was 9-for-13 from the free throw line in leading UTSA in scoring for the 11th time this season and he added a team-high seven rebounds and three steals. Junior Morris Smith IV drained four 3-pointers en route to 16 points, his sixth straight game in double figures. Gibson was 4-of-6 from the floor and added six boards and four assists, while junior Omar Johnson dropped in nine points, six rebounds, five dimes and a pair of thefts.
Anthony Vereen joined Haynes in the 20-point club with 21 on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and an 8-for-10 night at the free throw line. Brandon Long added 13, including one of only two 3-pointers on the afternoon for the Mavs.
UTSA made four of its five attempts from downtown, including a pair by Smith IV in the first 1:12, to build a 14-9 at the 14:19 mark.
UTA responded with a 20-6 run, capped by a three-point play from Trey Parker and a pair of free throws from Haynes at the 6:30 mark that made it 29-20 in favor of the Mavs. UTA extended its lead to as many as 12 at 36-24 with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
In a half of runs, the Roadrunners answered with an 11-0 stretch capped by a Chris Allen steal and Gibson layup to pull to within 36-35 with 10 seconds left. Brandon Long drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Mavs a 39-35 advantage at the break.
UTA led for most of the second half until a late run by the Roadrunners.
A 3-pointer from the top of the key by senior Joey Shank pulled UTSA to within 69-68 with just under five minutes to play. Gibson then knocked down a hanging jumper from the left side with 2:23 left to give UTSA its first lead, 74-73, since the 13-minute mark in the first half .
The Mavs responded by scoring the next seven unanswered and held an 80-74 advantage with 1:15 to play.
Gibson drained a trey from the top of the key and Gabbidon answered a Haynes layup by converting a three-point play with 32 ticks remaining to make it a two-point game.
The two teams combined to shoot 62 free throws with UTSA making 21 for 67.7 percent and UTA converting 24 for 77.4 percent.
The Roadrunners will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Tip is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable channel 50.