RENO, Nev. – Facing the three-time defending Mountain West Conference Champions, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (2-1) battled all night, but ultimately fell just short to Nevada (2-1) on Tuesday inside the Lawlor Events Center, 80-73.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Senior Radshad Davis recorded his first double-double in his second year with UTA with team highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 19 minutes.
 
He led a quartet of double-figure scorers as the Mavericks once again displayed their depth as freshman Sam Griffin tallied 13, redshirt sophomore David Azore netted 12 and senior Jabari Narcis narrowly missed his second-straight double-double with 11 points – nine of which came off 3-pointers by the 6-9 forward – and nine rebounds.
 
Despite shooting just 34.4 percent (22-64) from the floor against an at-large NCAA Tournament foe from a year ago, UTA held 2nd-half leads, but couldn't quite do enough to take control late. The Nevada lead was never more than nine at any point in the 2nd half, and for the majority of time hovered between 4-8 points most of the stanza.
 
Trailing by four, 77-73, with 30 seconds remaining, Davis pulled down a rebound off a missed Nevada free throw; however, a Wolf Pack player contested that effort – a foul potentially could have been called – and it resulted in Davis falling to the ground and being called for a travel.
 
Unfortunately for the Mavs, that would be the last legit effort they had to complete the comeback in front of 7,504 spectators as Nevada converted the final three points of the night.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Mavs were in the contest all evening despite Sun Belt Preseason First Team selection Brian Warren scoring just five points on 1-12 shooting.
 
UTA finished at 30.6 percent (11-36) from 3-point range, and went just 18-27 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. Similarly, Nevada connected on just 16 of 30 attempts (53.3 percent) from the charity stripe to help keep the Mavs in the matchup.
 
Jalen Harris – who did not play in the Wolf Pack's win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday with a foot injury – turned out to be a pain in the foot of UTA as the redshirt junior scored a game-high 24 points and corralled a team-best nine rebounds. Jazz Johnson and Nisre Zouzoua each tallied 16 points for Nevada, which finished at 46.6 percent (27-58) from the floor for the night and 47.6 percent (10-21) from beyond the arc.
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
After getting off to a slow start on both ends and trailing 9-1 just a few minutes into the contest, UTA quickly settled down and orchestrated an impressive 10-0 run over the ensuing four minutes to take an 11-10 lead.
 
The two sides traded buckets over the next several minutes before Nevada put together an 11-0 run over nearly eight minutes to create a 32-22 edge with two minutes remaining in the stanza.
 
That's when Griffin took over as the true freshman knocked down three 3-pointers during the final 94 seconds to key a crucial 13-6 UTA sprint and go into the halftime break down just one possession, 38-35.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Like they did against Tulsa on Saturday, the Mavs started the 2nd half hot from the floor and took a pair of leads – the last coming at 43-42 early in the period – before Nevada slowly re-built its cushion.
 
However, as previously mentioned, that advantage never reached double figures in the closing 20 minutes, but at the same time the Mavs were never able to get closer than three – and that occurred just twice with around five minutes to play.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"We lost the game in the opening five minutes by getting off to a terrible start. Yes, we caught up and had some small leads throughout the game periodically, but Nevada made a statement from the opening tip and we had to play catch-up most of the night. We can't let that happen. We have a chance to be really good, but we're not there yet. We'll get back to work, and I expect to see a tougher effort from our guys next time out."
 
THIS AND THAT

• Nevada was the first of three-straight opponents for UTA which played in the NCAA Tournament last year. The Wolf Pack are also the second foe in a four-game stretch for the Mavs which were ranked in the top 100 of KenPom's preseason rankings.
• This is just the third time under Ogden that UTA lost when scoring at least 68 points (now 17-3).
• Azore led UTA with four assists and also went 7-8 from the free throw line.
• Six of Davis's 10 rebounds came on the offensive end as UTA held a 12-9 edge in that category.
• The Mavs received 39 points from their bench compared with 24 from Nevada, and also finished with an 18-14 edge in points off turnovers.

NEXT UP
UTA will briefly return to campus before heading right back to the Pacific Time Zone to continue a grueling three-game road swing at #14 Oregon on Sunday, Nov. 17, before continuing it at #8 Gonzaga on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The Ducks defeated #13 Memphis earlier on Saturday, while the Bulldogs are also 3-0 to start the year.
 
PURCHASE TICKETS
Season tickets start as low as $99, and tickets for all home games are available by visiting UTATickets.com, calling the UTA Box Office at (817) 272-9595 or by stopping by the College Park Center during regular business hours.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).