Final Stats

UTA Championship Central | Sun Belt Championship Page

By Art Garcia | @ArtGarcia92

NEW ORLEANS - UT Arlington's stay in the Sun Belt Championship ended with Saturday afternoon's 82-71 semifinals loss to ULM at Lakefront Arena.

The Mavericks (23-10) now await their postseason fate as tournament bids are handed out Sunday. UTA last played in a postseason tournament in 2013 with an invitation to the CIT.

The Mavs have played their way into tourney consideration by winning eight of their last 11 games to win the second-most games in program history. UTA also made its deepest run in the Sun Belt Championship since joining the league three years ago.

UTA was playing for its first conference final berth since reaching the WAC championship game in 2013. The Maverick were looking good early, racing out to a 12-0 advantage less than four minutes into the game and forcing an early timeout out of ULM. Kaelon Wilson and Jalen Jones knocked down 3-pointers during the spurt.

The Warhawks (20-12) would make their way back and took their first lead at 19-18. ULM would go up as many as nine and went into the locker room leading 39-30. The Mavs remained at an arm's distance in the second half, never getting the lead below nine.

Jalen Jones led the Mavs with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Erick Neal had 17 points and four assists. Kennedy Eubanks had 10 points off the bench.

After opening the game hot, the Mavs were shooting only 37.1 percent (13-15) at the break. UTA made only 3-13 (23.1 percent) on its 3-point tries. Jones had a team-high nine points at the half.

Five Warhawks scored in double figures, led by 21 points from DeMondre Harvey. ULM shot 50 percent (27-54) for the game.

Turning Point
ULM went on a 27-6 run after falling behind 12-0. The Warhawks would lead for the remainder of the game.

Key Stats
UTA outrebounded ULM 43-31. ... UTA shot only 7-28 (25 percent) on 3-pointers. ... UTA outscored the Warhawks 42-24 in the paint. ... ULM had two points from its bench.

Notable
Wilson didn't play in the second half after rolling his ankle in the first. ... Neal's four assists give him 197 this season, tied for the second-most in program history. ... UTA went 0-3 against ULM this season. ... UTA dropped to 4-6 when trailing at halftime.

Quotable
UT Arlington coach Scott Cross' opening statement:
"It was a hard fought game. Two very defensive teams were going at it. ULM did a great job knocking down shots. Unfortunately for us we couldn't find our shooting touch. We started out extremely hot, but then we went cold. That is a credit to Monroe. Their size and length definitely bothers us. Our guys played hard, they have nothing to be ashamed about. I felt like they competed and battled. We had a great competitive spirit about us, we just came up a little bit short."