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By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

ARLINGTON, Texas - Jalen Jones stepped back to drill a 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds in overtime to complete a dramatic comeback, lifting UT Arlington past Louisiana 84-83 Thursday night at College Park Center.

The Mavericks extended their winning streak to four, improving to 18-7 overall and 9-5 in the Sun Belt. UTA inched closer to the second-place Ragin' Cajuns (14-10, 10-5) in the league standings.

Jones led the Mavs with 23 points on 7-13 shooting, including 4-6 on 3-point attempts. The junior guard had the ball in his hands with UL up 83-81 with the clock winding down. Jones was inside the arc before taking two steps back and letting it fly, giving UTA its first lead since 9-8 early.

Shawn Long missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for UL.

Kaelon Wilson scored 20 and added a 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Erick Neal had 19 points and six assists before fouling out in OT. Drew Charles scored 10 and had a key steal that led to Jones' layup sending the game into the extra session tied 72-72.

The Mavs were down as many as 15 points in the first half and were still trailing by 11 with 5 1/2 minutes left in regulation. Neal's 3-pointer made it a five-point deficit (69-64) with four minutes left. UTA was down 72-70 on Wilson's driving layup with 1:46 remaining.

Long led the Cajuns with game highs in points (28) and rebounds (18). Kasey Shepard scored 16, Jay Wright had 13 points and Johnathan Stove has 12.

UTA made up ground after trailing 13 at the half by shooting 47.4 percent (18-38) in the second half and overtime. The Mavs held UL to 38.7-percent shooting (12-31) after halftime.

The Mavericks played from behind for the majority of the first half. After UTA took a 9-8 lead, the Cajuns reeled off an 11-3 run to open up a 19-12 edge. UL would lead by as much as 15 points and took a 42-29 advantage into the locker room.

The Mavs couldn't buy a basket in the first half, especially in close. UTA missed several shots from point-blank range on its way to 25-percent shooting through 20 minutes. Louisiana was shooting 45.7 percent at the break.

Turning Point
The Mavericks finished regulation with a 15-4 run to send the contest into OT. The Cajuns were 1-5 shooting and had three turnovers during that run.

Key Stats
The Mavs led for only 30 seconds, trailed for 42:06 and the game was tied 2:24. UTA's two leads were 9-8 and 84-83. ... Both teams had 46 rebounds. ... UTA outscored UL 19-5 in points off turnovers.

Notable
Freshman forward Nick Pallas set a season/career high with 13 rebounds, nine coming in the first half. His previous best was nine boards against Grambling State on Nov. 25. ... UTA is 10-1 at home. ... UTA is 1-2 in overtime. ... UTA and Louisiana split the season series 1-1.

Up Next
The Mavericks finish off a three-game homestand Saturday at College Park Center against ULM presented by Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital. Tickets are available at UTATickets.com.

Quotable
UTA coach Scott Cross:
"What a big shot by Jalen. [Nathan Hawkins] really stepped up when [Erick Neal] fouled out. He ran the team extremely well. Our guys work hard playing defense and it was nice that we were able to get stops down the stretch. [Nick Pallas] did a tremendous job off the bench defending Shawn Long. That guy is legit. You can see why he's getting NBA looks. I'm so thankful for this win. It's a huge win."

Cross on message to team at halftime:
"We told the guys to just trust each. It felt like maybe in the first half we weren't trusting each other. We weren't playing physically tough enough. We got dominated inside a little bit. Jalen was a grown man on both ends of the floor. I felt like Shawn Long dominated us. We gave up about seven and-1s. We just told our guys to stick to the game plan and keep doing what we've worked on, what's been successful for us and they got to it in the second half. Jalen was really, really big for us. We ran offense through him and he was extremely effective."

Jalen Jones on final shot:
"I'm just so happy I made it. I just tried to keep my composure and I heard my teammates on the side saying knock it down. They had faith in me and it gave me the confidence to knock it down."

Jones on UTA's defense:
"We just started getting tuned in as far as defense. Trying to contain our man, the scouting reporting, trying to do what coach tells us to do."