Final Stats

By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

LAFAYETTE, Louisiana - UT Arlington dropped its third game in row, falling 90-75 to Louisiana on Saturday afternoon at the Cajundome.

The Mavericks are 14-6 on the season and 5-4 in the Sun Belt. The Ragin' Cajuns improved to 11-8 and 7-3 after their sixth consecutive win.

UTA found itself playing from behind and in foul trouble for much of the game. The Mavericks led only briefly early in the second half, as Louisiana used its size advantage inside to pull away.

Erick Neal, two days removed from the program's first triple-double, led UTA with 20 points and seven assists. Neal shot 8-19 from the floor, including 2-4 on 3-pointers, in a team-high 37 minutes.

Jalen Jones added 15 points, with Kaelon Wilson and Nick Pallas each scoring nine off the bench. Drew Charles had seven points - all in the first half - and fouled out in 25 minutes.

Shawn Long scored 22 and grabbed 15 rebounds for Louisiana. His frontcourt partner Bryce Washington had 16 points and nine boards.

The Mavericks found themselves in the all too familiar position of falling behind big early. Louisiana opened the game with an 11-0 spurt that forced a quick timeout from UTA coach Scott Cross.

The stoppage seemed to settle the Mavs, with Jones hitting a 3-pointer to get UTA on the board. The Mavericks forged the game's first tie at 18-18. Mairega Clarke's layup gave UTA its first lead (23-21) midway through the first half.

The Mavs went into halftime tied 42-42 despite foul trouble for the bigs. Starting center Jorge Bilbao logged only six minutes in the first half due to three fouls, with backup Pallus getting whistled twice in 11 minutes.

Jones and Pallas each had seven points in the first half. Long led the Cajuns with 11 points.

Turning Point
Louisiana's 10-0 run in the second half opened up a 70-56 advantage. The Mavs went 0-2 from the floor, missed both free throws and had two turnovers during their scoring drought.

Key Stats
UTA was out-rebounded for the just the fifth time this season. Louisiana had 37-24 edge on the boards. UTA had a season low in rebounds. The previous low was 35 against Bradley. ... The Cajuns were 29-34 at the foul line; UTA was 13-23.

Notable
UTA was tied at halftime (42-42) for the first time this season. ... Charles fouled out for the second time this season and seventh in his career. ... Louisiana leads the all-time series 15-8. ... The Mavs and Cajuns meet again Feb. 18 in Arlington.

Up Next
The Mavericks are back on the road next week with games at Georgia Southern (Thursday) and Georgia State (Saturday).

Quotable
Scott Cross opening statement:
"We didn't do a good enough job defensively against them. That's been the story the last couple of games. I do think Louisiana is a great offensive team. They got a lot of guys that got it going today. It's tough when you've got shooters and they're hitting shots. Even guys that weren't good shooters we hitting shots, but that's basketball. It's tough to win on the road. We've got to get better on Monday. That's the bottom line. We've got to figure out our identity and hopefully get back to our winnings ways. We've got to play the right way. I thought at times in the first half, we do some great things. We move the ball around, but in the second half we didn't move it quite as well and we didn't get stops. They killed us on the boards. That was another thing. We've been great all year long and they mashed us."