Photo courtesy: UT Arlington Athletics

A trio of career performances helped the UT Arlington Mavericks extend their winning streak to four in a row by downing Rice 92-74 Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse.

The starting backcourt of Erick Neal and Drew Charles set the tone early, and forward Kevin Hervey came strong on late as UTA pulled away from its Conference USA foe. The Mavericks scored a season high and are 5-1 for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

Hervey, Neal and Charles each set new career highs in scoring. Hervey racked up his third double-double of the season with 27 points and tied his career best with 15 rebounds. Neal scored 24 and dished out six assists. Charles added 17 points, 16 coming in the first half.

UT Arlington coach Scott Cross had said it was only a matter of time before the Mavs found their shooting stroke. After shooting 36.4 percent through the first four games, UTA connected on 57.1 percent (32-56) against the Owls.

The Mavericks shot 67.9 percent (19-28) in the first half, including 64.3 percent (9-14) from 3-point territory. UTA was up 51-38 at halftime, easily a season high for points in a half.

Charles opened the game red hot. The junior knocked down his first six shots, including four from beyond the arc. Charles scored 16 of UTA's first 22 points, as the Mavs opened up a 12-point lead.

Rice (2-5) closed the gap to 24-22 with a 9-0 run before Neal heated up. The sophomore point guard hit three 3-pointers and assisted in a lob dunk to Kaelon Wilson, as UTA jumped out to a 48-34 advantage.

Neal and Charles combined 29 points in the first half on 11-of-13 shooting, including 7-8 from deep. Hervey scored 20 in the second half to help keep the Mavs comfortably ahead.

Key Stats
UTA's nine 3-pointers in the first half matched the season high set in the opener against Fordham. UTA finished with 10 3s.

Notable
Charles' previous career high was 15 points against UC Irvine on Dec. 13, 2014. ... Neal scored 23 earlier this season at Louisiana Tech. ... Hervey had 22 points at Memphis. ... After the Owls opened the game with a 3-pointer, UTA scored the next seven points and never trailed again. ... UTA had shot less than 40 percent in the four previous games.

Up next
UTA is at Texas on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip. Longhorn Network is televising with the D-FW radio broadcast on KKGM 1630 AM. For fans unable to make the trip, Grease Monkey is hosting UTA's official watch party with food and drink specials.

Quotable
Scott Cross on shooting:
"I knew it was a matter of time before our guys had the lid come off the basket. You saw it with Drew. He was on fire and got us going in the first half. The thing that concerned me was were we going to defend once we started hitting shots? We shot it at a blistering pace in the first half and I thought our defense was just OK."

Drew Charles on his performance:
"It wasn't just me that shot it well. Erick shot it well. Hervey got it going in the second half. We shot almost 50 percent on 3-pointers. We needed this going into Texas."