ARLINGTON – After overcoming a 12-point 2nd-half deficit to tie the contest with less than four minutes remaining, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-5) appeared poised to snap a three-game losing streak, but a late charge by UT Rio Grande Valley (6-4) led the Vaqueros to a 76-65 win Saturday afternoon at the College Park Center.
 
Playing in just his second game of the year after getting cleared by the NCAA earlier this week, Andres Ibarguen put together a dominant low-post performance for UTA with game highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to stave off a closing 20-9 run by UTRGV coming out of the final under-4 media timeout.
 
After trailing 41-29 early in the 2nd half, UTA fought back to tie the contest at 56-56 with just under four minutes remaining. But UTRGV hit a 3-pointer out of the aforementioned media timeout to spearhead an 8-0 run in 1:30 to create a 64-56 lead that would get no smaller than four the rest of the afternoon.
 
UTA was without the services of second-leading scorerEdric Dennis (14 per game) because of a foot injury. With him sidelined, Ibarguen was the lone Maverick to reach double-figure scoring, with Brian Warren and David Azore both netting eight each – the first time all year Warren has failed to record 10 points.
 
After shooting just 30 percent from the floor in the 1st half (9-30), UTA connected at a 50-percent rate in the 2nd half (13-26). One of the nation's top free-throw shooting teams, the Mavs went 20-24 (83.3 percent) from the stripe to help mount their comeback attempt.
 
The fact that the game was even within reach for the Mavericks when shooting just 1-12 from 3-point range is a testament to UTA's fight. Despite dropping their fourth-straight by double figures, the Mavs – who have the third-most newcomers in the nation and fewest amount of points returning from last season – have competed most of the way as in all four of those contests it has been a single-digit margin with less than 10 minutes remaining.
 
HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"We're getting better. It may not seem like it when you lose a game, but I'm seeing progress. I believe in these guys. I told them in the locker room (after the game) that the most important thing right now is to get stronger and closer as a unit. We just need to keep working and preserve through it right now. It's most important that we're playing our best in February and March We'll get there. I believe we will."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Lesley Varner Jr. led UTRGV with 22 points, while Javon Levi netted 17 and issued a game-high four assists. The Vaqueros connected on 40 percent of their attempts from the floor in the 1st half, but that increased to 57 percent (13-23) in the closing 20 minutes. In that final stanza, UTRGV also marched to the free-throw line 26 times and finished the day 22-35 (63 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
The 6-5, 230-pound Ibarguen was a monster down low in the opening minutes of the junior transfer's home debut, scoring 11 points and pulling down six rebounds in just seven minutes before unfortunately picking up his second foul midway through the half and sitting for the duration of the stanza. UTA's only lead in the opening 20 minutes came following an Ibarguen and-1 finish to make it 16-15, and from there the UTRGV lead hovered between 2 and 5 points most of the rest of the half before taking a 32-29 lead into the break.
 
The Vaqueros then opened the 2nd half on an 8-0 run to create the aforementioned 12-point lead – the largest either team possessed all game. However, despite the comeback attempt, UTA dropped its fourth-straight non-conference game for the first time since 2013.
 
For the second-straight game, UTA out-rebounded its opponent as – led by Ibarguen – the Mavs posted a dominant 46-27 edge on the glass. Contributing to that total was Azore corralling eight and Radshad Davis coming close to a double-double with nine boards and seven points.
 
UTA also out-scored its second-straight Division-I opponent in the paint (the only two occurrences this year) with Ibarguen in the lineup, 38-36. But the biggest issue for the Mavericks came in the turnover department as UTA gave the ball away a season-high 21 times, leading to a 19-11 edge in points off turnovers for UTRGV.
 
THIS & THAT
After using the same starting lineup for each of the first three games of the year, UTA has had a different starting 5 each of the past four games (five total different lineups on the season) as Ogden started Warren, Azore, Patrick Mwamba, Pedro Castro and Ibarguen … the game was the first of five men's and women's home contests between now and early January in which all children ages 18 and under were admitted free as part of the department's Holiday Hoops special.
 
CHALLENING STRETCH
UTA is in the midst of a stretch of seven opponents in a nine-game stretch which played in the postseason last year, including UTRGV in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Five of those seven participated in the NCAA Tournament, and one of those opponents awaits UTA next.
 
NEXT UP
That 2018 NCAA Tournament participant awaiting the Mavs is Missouri as UTA will head back out on the road to commence an extended five-game road swing to conclude non-conference action. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Columbia, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app – exactly the same viewership options as the Arkansas game earlier this year.