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MIRAMAR, Fla. - After a rough start over the first nine holes, the UT Arlington men's golf team went 2-under on the back to finish the second day of competition at the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championships within two shots of second place at Raven Golf Club.

The Mavericks enter tomorrow's final round of stroke play in a strong position to finish among the top four teams and qualify for Wednesday's match play, which determines the league champion and the automatic qualifier into the field at the upcoming NCAA Regional Championships.

"Tomorrow our plan will be the same," said UTA director of golf Stuart Deane. "We talked to the boys after the round today about going out tomorrow and each guy figuring out how to save one shot.

"We do get to go out earlier tomorrow. That might be a good break for us. Maybe we can get through nine holes with less wind. We need to be committed, believe in what we do and play together as a group. They need to inspire each other. Inspiration doesn't have to come from us, as coaches. In this case, I think it needs to come from the three seniors."

UTA turned in a 9-over par 293 and is one shot behind third place Texas State and two back of runner-up Georgia Southern. Coastal Carolina fired a 9-under par today and leads the field by 17 strokes headed into tomorrow's round.

The 12-team field opens play tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. on the 6,887-yard, par 71 Raven Golf Course at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort. UTA is scheduled to start on the first hole beginning at 7:30 a.m. and is paired with golfers from ULM and Troy -- the tournament's fifth and sixth place teams, respectively.

Individually, senior Aaron Guanlao put together his second-straight consistent round and is the Mavericks' leader. The Haslet, Texas native turned in scores of 72-72 and is in ninth place at 2-over par. Guanlao is the tournament leader in par 3 scoring at 2.70 and is 3-under on par 3 holes over the first two rounds. As a team, UTA leads the field in par 3 scoring at plus-1.

Freshman Paul Gonzalez (Waxahachie, Texas) is tied for 12th overall at 4-over with scores of 72-74 for a 146 over the first 36 holes. Grad transfer Nick Thornton went 2-under on the back nine to turn in a 2-over par 73 today and sits in a tie for 20th place at 6-over for the tournament.

Junior Tanner Gore (El Paso, Texas) is tied for 28th at 9-over after turning in rounds of 76-75, while senior Jake Greenspoon improved by four strokes over yesterday's round and is tied for 33rd at 10-over. The Houston native aided the team's cause today by going 2-under over the final nine holes.

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