MONROE, La. (AP) — Jalen Jones shot 9 for 12 and scored 23 points in 27 minutes and Texas-Arlington pulled away from Louisiana-Monroe after halftime for a 72-57 win on Thursday night.
Texas-Arlington (24-6, 14-3 Sun Belt) led 31-30 at halftime and went on a 19-9 run to start the second half and pushed its lead to 50-39. Louisiana-Monroe rallied with jumpers from Nick Coppola, Marcus Washington, and Prince Cooper to reduce the deficit to five.
But Drew Charles made two foul shots, Jones had a 3, a jumper and a layup, and Erick Neal added a jumper and the Mavericks led 61-48 with 4:48 to go and had a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Neal finished with 12 points, Faith Pope 11 and Kevin Hervey 10.
Travis Munnings led Louisiana-Monroe (8-22, 2-15) with 17 points. Washington added 12 and Coppola 11.