Matas Vokietaitis finished with 22 points and Jordan Pope put up 16 of his 21 points in the first half as Texas bucked up after halftime to roll past Maryland Eastern Shore 94-71 on Monday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (9-4) led by just six points after a ragged first half but created separation shortly after halftime, boosting their advantage to 20 points on a Tramon Mark dunk with 8:35 to play. Texas got balanced scoring, ruled the boards and dominated in the paint while winning its second straight game.
The Longhorns played their final nonconference contest of the season. After a break for Christmas and New Year’s, Texas begins Southeastern Conference play at home against Mississippi State in Jan. 3
Mark logged 17 points for the Longhorns, while Dailyn Swain amassed 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Jaden Cooper scored 13 and Joseph Locandro added 12 points to lead the Hawks (4-13), who have dropped seven games in a row. Zion Obanla tallied 10 in the loss.
The Longhorns led from the opening tip, scoring the game’s first four points and building an 11-5 advantage after a Swain layup. Texas stoked its lead to eight points on Pope’s 3-pointer before the Hawks swung back, culling their deficit to a bucket via a 6-0 run capped by a second-chance jumper by Justin Monden with 11:30 left before halftime.
Texas pushed its lead to 29-18 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Pope. Maryland Eastern Shore fought back again, trimming the margin to four points when Cooper canned a jumper from beyond the arc with 4:58 to play before the break.
The Longhorns’ Simeon Wilcher stoked the margin back to nine points by hitting a jumper with 1:19 left before Locandro finished the half with a 3-pointer that allowed Maryland Eastern Shore to draw to within 40-34 at intermission.
Pope led all scorers with 16 points before halftime while Mark added 11 for Texas. Locandro paced the Hawks with 10 points in the first half.
Texas pulled away over the first five minutes of the second half, going up 55-40 on Camden Heide’s 3-pointer at the 15:01 mark.
–Field Level Media
