Final Stats

By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas - UT Arlington opened its final road trip of the season with Thursday night's 72-60 hard-fought loss against Sun Belt leader Little Rock at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Mavericks (18-9) remain fourth in conference at 9-7 after falling to the Trojans (25-3, 15-2) for the second time this season. UTA has dropped two in a row, but remains in control of its destiny for a first-round bye in the Sun Belt Championship next month.

Jalen Jones paced the Mavs with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 3-7 from beyond the 3-point arc. Erick Neal, the Sun Belt's assist leader, dished out six and scored 12. No other Mavs scored in double figures.

Josh Hagins led four Trojans - all starters - in double digits with 17 points.

UTA, down 11 at the half, opened the second stanza with a 3-pointer from Jones and began to chip away. The Mavs pulled within 41-39 on Jones' layup four minutes into the half.

Little Rock's lead remained manageable until Marcus Johnson, Jr. and Kemy Osse hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Trojans' advantage to 59-47. The Mavs weren't done, as Neal's hit a 3-pointer to make it 63-58 with 3:45 remaining.

Little Rock responded with another run to lead by double digits and close out the win.

The Trojans got off to a quick start, opening up a 19-10 lead behind eight points from Hagins. The Little Rock lead reached 13 points on the way to a 36-25 edge at halftime.

The Mavericks were shooting 28.6 percent (6-21) at the break and never led. The Trojans connected on 45.2 percent (14-31) and held a 20-16 rebounding edge.

Key Stats
The Mavs shot 54.5 percent (12-22) in the second half to make it a game. ... UTA was outrebounded 31-30, marking the second consecutive game the Mavs lost the rebound battle. ... Little Rock held a 11-4 edge in second-chance points.

Notable
The Mavs were swept in the season series 2-0. UTA is 3-3 against Little Rock since joining the Sun Belt. ... After having his double-figure scoring streak snapped at seven games by being held to eight points against ULM, Jones scored 12.

Up Next
The Mavericks remain in Arkansas for Saturday's game at Arkansas State. Tip is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. for the last road game of the season. The radio broadcast is on KKGM 1630 AM, along with a video stream on ESPN3/WatchESPN.com.

Quotable
UTA coach Scott Cross opening statement:
"We didn't do a great job on either end of the floor. We made a bunch of defensive mental mistakes coming off the corner guy, coming off the shooter, which is a cardinal sin in our defense. Offensively, we weren't able to move the ball the way we needed to move it."