ARLINGTON – Coming off its first loss of the season and facing the defending Big West Conference Regular Season Champions, the revamped UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-1) displayed its grit with a hard-fought 68-59 win over UC Davis (1-4) Sunday afternoon at the College Park Center.
 
The Mavericks knocked down 24 of 28 (85.7 percent) free-throw attempts in the foul-plagued affair, including 14 of 16 trips to the stripe in the 2nd half to ice the bounce-back victory.
 
Brian Warren led the offensive charge for the Mavericks with 18 points, while Radshad Davis netted 12 and Edric Dennis tallied 11. But it was the efforts of DJ Bryant – who scored a career-high 11 points in a starting role – and TiAndre Jackson-Young – who corralled a career-best 11 rebounds – who really sparked the Mavs.
 
Holding a 52-42 lead with 10 minutes to play, UTA surrendered an 8-0 UC Davis run to pull the Aggies within two, 52-50, before it was halted by an Aggies' foul. That foul came on a 3-point attempt from Bryant, who displayed his veteran leadership on a nearly completely new roster by knocking down all three attempts.
 
A David Azore 3-pointer followed on the ensuing Mavs' possession off a pass from Bryant to push the lead back to eight, 58-50, with six minutes remaining, and from there UC Davis couldn't get any closer than four the rest of the game.
 
With its successful march to the free-throw line, UTA was able to overcome just 26.9-percent shooting (7-26) from the field in the 2nd half. The Mavericks also forced UC Davis into 18 turnovers and converted those into 21 points compared with just 12 points off UTA giveaways by the Aggies.
 
HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"I'm so proud of our team and the way we responded. Every single guy had a big play in the game. We showed toughness, we showed experience, we showed that we learned from our mistakes and built on that. TiAndre and DJ made unbelievable plays. I can't think of a situation where I can be any more proud, or have it be any more of a team win."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UTA used an important and energizing 14-2 run over the final 5:30 of the 1st half to take a 38-30 lead into halftime. Trailing 28-24, the Mavs' push was keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryant – with the two makes from long distance equaling his season total entering the game.
 
The Mavericks shot 52.4 percent (11-21) from the floor in the opening half and connected on 10 of 12 free-throw attempts (83.3 percent) while the Aggies went just 4-9 (44.4 percent) from the charity stripe and 45.8 percent (11-24) from the floor.
 
However, unlike Friday night when the Mavericks gave up a nine-point halftime edge against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UTA responded on Sunday, and – after allowing the Aggies to score the first four points out of the locker room – clamped down with a 7-0 spurt to forge ahead by 11, 45-34, before the Aggies made their aforementioned comeback attempt.
 
Three of UTA's top-4 scorers on the year had their minutes limited due to each having four fouls – Davis, Dennis and Azore (who finished with five points). Warren also led the Mavs with four assists and tied a game high with two steals. UC Davis was led offensively by Siler Schneider with 15 points, while reigning Big West Player and Newcomer of the Year TJ Shorts II was limited to just 12 points but passed out a game-best five assists.
 
ABOUT UC DAVIS
The contest was the first of six non-conference opponents for the Mavericks who won 20 or more games last year and played in the postseason. UC Davis returns four starters this season from a 22-11 club which won the Big West Regular Season Championship and played in the NIT.
 
THIS AND THAT
Freshman Patrick Mwamba did not play after suffering an injury in Friday's game … Ogden mixed up his starting lineup for the first time this year as he started Warren, Bryant, Ayoub Nouhi, Davis and Jackson-Young … 24 total fouls – 12 on each team – were called in the 1st half, and that increased to 27 in the 2nd half for an incredible 51 total in the contest (25 on UC Davis, 26 on UTA).
 
HARDWOOD SHOWCASE
The game was part of a multiple-team event (MTE) called the Hardwood Showcase, and features UTA, Indiana, Arkansas, Montana State, UC Davis and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Each team will play – or already has played – four others from the group of six this month. Next week, UTA will head to Bloomington to face the Hoosiers before traveling to Fayetteville to take on the Razorbacks.
 
NEXT UP
UTA embarks on a week-long road trip during Thanksgiving as the Mavericks will head to Indiana on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. Central (7 p.m. local) tipoff against the Hoosiers on the Big Ten Network. The Mavs will then remain on the road and fly to Arkansas to battle the Razorbacks on Friday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.