ELON, N.C. – Furman hit a game-tying shot with 3.8 seconds to play, a subsequent free throw as part of the and-1 put the Paladins (7-1) in front, and the UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-4) suffered a tough 58-57 neutral-site loss on Wednesday at Elon's Schar Center.
 
On the ensuing inbound following the Furman three-point play, the Mavs pushed the ball into the frontcourt with Brian Warren. He found TiAndre Jackson-Young on the baseline in front of the Mavericks' bench, but the senior's good look at a 3-point attempt just before the buzzer was off the mark and UTA dropped the contest despite only trailing for 1 minute and 34 seconds all game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UTA held a six-point lead, 53-47, with 4:44 remaining following a Jackson-Young layup off a feed from Coleman Sparling. However, that would be the last field goal the Mavs made as Furman closed the game on an 11-4 run as the final four UTA points came off Warren free throws.
 
The Mavs had the ball and a 57-55 lead with under a minute to play. An empty possession gave the ball back to the Paladins with 30 seconds remaining, and a Furman 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left missed. However, Furman grabbed the offensive rebound and called time.
 
Out of that timeout, Mike Bothwell – who scored just six points – drove down the lane, converted a contested layup and was fouled. His free throw after a UTA timeout proved to be the difference as the Mavs – facing their fourth-straight Division-I opponent which played in either the NCAA Tournament or NIT last year – couldn't convert following a Furman timeout to set its defense.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
For the first time this year, last season's leading scorer Warren registered a team high with a season- and game-best 18 points to lead the way for UTA. David Azore reached double-figure points for the sixth-straight time with 12, while adding five rebounds and issuing a game-high four assists.
 
Furman entered the contest ranked 14th in the nation in field-goal percentage at 50.8, but like the Mavs did against the previously best-shooting team in the country, #8 Gonzaga, last week, they limited the Paladins to just 39.2 percent (20-51) from the floor while connecting at a 43.4-percent clip (23-53) of their own.
 
Something was thought to have to give in terms of ball protection as UTA checked in 8th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.63, while Furman came in 6th nationally in turnover margin at +8 per game. UTA had just nine assists against 16 turnovers (0.56 ratio), but forced Furman into 17 turnovers of its own compared with 16 for the Mavs; UTA finished with a 20-14 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Both teams were even on the glass, 33-33, but Furman held a 10-5 edge in 2nd-chance points – including the last three of the day which proved to be the difference.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"We didn't execute on either end down the stretch. On that last possession we gave up an offensive rebounds and talked about not giving up a 3-pointer – and we gave up a three-point play – and we talked about not fouling – and we fouled. But our offense let us down too. We didn't make a field goal in nearly the last five minutes, and we can't expect to win many games when that happens. We let this game get away from us and we need to learn from it and come back tomorrow with a lot of energy."
 
ONE BIG STAT
A back-and-forth opening eight minutes of the game saw the contest tied on three occasions and the lead change sides six times. To further demonstrate how much control of the game UTA had, the contest was tied just one more time in the final 32 minutes, and the lead changed hands just one more time – both with 3.8 seconds remaining. UTA led for 35 minutes and 13 seconds.
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
With Furman possessing a 13-11 lead, UTA orchestrated an 8-0 run bookended by baskets from Warren and Sparling to take a 19-13 lead.
 
Furman trimmed that advantage in half on a 3-pointer to make it 19-16, but the Mavs came right back with a 6-0 surge to build their largest lead of the afternoon to that point, 25-16. UTA maintained that nine-point edge, 28-19, at the under-4 media timeout, and behind a Warren triple in the closing minute held on to that nine-point lead heading to halftime, 31-22.
 
UTA connected at a 48.1-percent clip (13-27) while limiting a Furman squad which shot it at 53 percent the night before against Elon to just 33.3 percent (7-21). Turnovers were an issue for both teams in the opening 20 minutes as the Paladins had 11 and the Mavericks had 10 – with that total representing UTA's season average for the year (10th nationally).
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Azore scored UTA's first five points out of the locker room to extend the Mav lead to double figures for the first time at 36-26, and that lead eventually grew to a game-high 13 at 42-29 four minutes into the stanza.
 
However, Furman responded with an 8-0 explosion in just over a minute to quickly cut its deficit to 42-37 with 14:30 remaining. Ayoub Nouhi knocked down a baseline jumper shortly after to snap that run, and the Mavs went back to work on the defensive end.
 
A few minutes later with UTA holding a 44-38 lead just before the under-12 media timeout, Narcis grabbed two huge offensive rebounds to keep the UTA possession(s) alive, and it ultimately resulted in an and-1 finish by Sam Griffin. A Narcis free-throw jumper followed, and UTA's quick 5-0 run pushed its lead back to double figures, 49-38, at the midway point.
 
Unfazed, Furman once again had a response as the Paladins put together a 7-0 run to make it a 49-45 contest as Ogden took his third timeout with 7:28 remaining. On UTA's second possession out of that timeout, Azore hit a floater in the paint to stop the Furman surge and put the Mavs back up six, 51-45, and it remained at six entering the aforementioned closing stretch of 4:44.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Narcis scored seven points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. After making 10 total 3-pointers in his previous two games, the 6-foot-9 forward went just 1-3 as UTA overall went just 4-16 (25 percent) from beyond the arc. The Mavs instead outscored their second-straight opponent in the paint, 28-20.
• Jackson-Young added seven points in his second-straight starting role and Sparling had a season-high six.
• UTA entered Wednesday having played the 4th-hardest schedule in the nation as each of its first five D-I opponents this year reside in the top 130 of the KenPom rankings: Tulsa (128), Nevada (97), Oregon (18), Gonzaga (6) and Furman (68).
• Patrick Mwamba did not play, and is out indefinitely, after suffering a broken right foot at #8 Gonzaga last Tuesday.
• Furman was considered by many an NCAA Tournament snub a year ago after posting a 25-8 record and NET of 58 before ending the season in the NIT.
• This was the first-ever meeting between UTA and Furman.
• After missing the Arkansas Tech game with an ankle injury, freshman Nicolas Elame returned to the lineup and played four minutes.

NEXT UP
UTA faces a quick turnaround as the Mavs will face the homestanding Elon Phoenix on Thanksgiving Day at 11 a.m. Central (Noon Eastern). Elon is 2-5 on the year, and has lost its last five in a row after Furman handled the Phoenix easily on Tuesday night, 97-61.
 
However, like UTA, Elon has played a challenging schedule as the Phoenix have the 12th-ranked strength of schedule in the nation. It will be the first-ever meeting between UTA and Elon.
 
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.
 
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