ARLINGTON – Behind double-double performances from Brian Warren and Jabari Narcis, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-3) registered a season-high point total en route to an 85-68 win Sunday afternoon over Arkansas Tech (3-2) inside the College Park Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UTA led for 37 minutes and was never seriously threatened as the Mavericks snapped a three-game losing skid – all of which came on the road to NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago – by registering a season-best field-goal performance at 50.7 percent (34-67).
 
Warren passed out a career- and game-high 12 assists against just one turnover to go along with 15 points, while Narcis scored a career- and game-high 23 points while grabbing a season- and game-best 11 rebounds. For Warren, it's his first double-double in 39 games as a member of the Mavs, while Narcis recorded his second double-double of the young season.
 
A 6-foot-9 forward, Narcis knocked down a career-tying five 3-pointers for the second-straight contest; as a team UTA went 7-19 (36.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The Mavs entered the game with the 20th-most 3-pointers made in the nation this year (52), and having attempted the 9th-most 3-pointers (163), but instead utilized its low-post presence to win the game.
 
The Mavs out-scored Arkansas Tech in the paint, 42-14 – with the 42 points nearly doubling their previous total in any game this year (22 vs. UT Dallas). It's also the first time in six games this year UTA has out-scored the opposition in the paint.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
David Azore continued a solid all-around start to the season as the redshirt sophomore added 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. The Houston product was efficient as well, going 4-5 from the floor and 7-8 from the free throw line – representing 70 percent of UTA's makes from the charity stripe (10-12, 83.3 percent).
 
UTA – which came into play ranked 27th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.51) – added to that number with 24 assists and just 11 turnovers. Arkansas Tech had 14 giveways as UTA has now had fewer turnovers than its opponents in five of its first six games.
 
All 11 healthy UTA players logged game action, and the Mavs dispersed their scoring over nine different bodies.
 
Dillon Gooding led the Wonder Boys with 19 points, while Devante Foster added 17 and R.J. Glasper rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers with 14 for Arkansas Tech, which shot 37.9 percent (22-58) from the floor and made several long-range, contested 3-pointers (10-31, 32.3 percent).
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"First off, I want to give credit to Arkansas Tech – they're well-coached have several good players who have played at the Division-I level previously, so they presented us a challenge. With that being said, I thought we showed some maturity, but there's still so much more we can improve. To have 24 assists and just 11 turnovers speaks to the skill level of our guys but also the mentality we came in with today.
 
Brian and Jabari obviously had great games, and I thought Kipp (Warren) controlled the whole game. And I guess we're just going to let our big shooter (Narcis) continue to shoot."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Narcis, who tied a program record by going 5-5 from 3-point range Tuesday in a six-point loss at #8 Gonzaga, picked up right where he left off in the Pacific Northwest by making his first three 3-point attempts in the opening four minutes, and also added a dunk to spearhead a 15-9 start for the Mavs.
 
That lead would get as large as eight before UTA settled for a seven-point halftime lead, 43-36 – with the 43 points representing the most the Mavs have tallied in an opening half this year.
 
Narcis led the charge offensively for UTA in the opening 20 with 13 points and five boards, while Warren went to work as a distributor; in addition to his nine points he issued eight assists – two more than what Arkansas Tech had as a team in the 1st half.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
UTA came out strong on both ends of the court to commence the 2nd half and built a 14-point lead, 53-39, just 3 ½ minutes into the period. However, the Wonder Boys had a response and actually got the deficit down to just five, 55-50, but the Mavericks counter-punched with a 9-0 surge over the next three minutes.
 
With that two-touchdown advantage still intact at the midway point of the stanza, 64-50, UTA extended it to as much as 19 before settling for the 17-point triumph.
 
The Mavs shot 55.6 percent (15-27) in the 2nd half, while limited Arkansas Tech to just 36 percent (9-25). Azore led all scorers in the closing half with 12, while Narcis added 10.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Patrick Mwamba did not play, and is out indefinitely, after suffering a broken right foot at Gonzaga on Tuesday.
• Freshman Nicolas Elame did not play either due to an ankle injury suffered this week.
• UTA is now 52-10 at home since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• The Mavs just finished a stretch of three-straight opponents in a week which played in the NCAA Tournament last year, including two straight against nationally-ranked foes, dropping two of those by just single digits.
• The game was an exhibition contest for Arkansas Tech, but all statistics and the result are official for UTA.
• Jordan Phillips scored eight points off the bench, while Ayoub Nouhi added seven and Radshad Davis netted six for the Mavs, who out-rebounded Arkansas Tech, 40-30.
• Warren's previous career-high assist total was 11 while at Tyler Junior College, while Narcis's previous career-high point total was 20 while at Jacksonville College.
• It's the first time since 2017-18 that multiple UTA players have recorded a double-double in the same game, and also the most assists by a single UTA player since 2017-18 as well.

NEXT UP
UTA hits the road again for back-to-back games this coming Wednesday and Thursday at Elon. The Mavs will first face a 5-1 Furman squad on Nov. 27 before battling the home-standing Phoenix on Thanksgiving Day.
 
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).