STATESBORO, Ga. – David Azore poured in a career-high 33 points and Brian Warren scored a season-high 28, but the UT Arlington men's basketball team (4-9, 0-2 Sun Belt Conference) let a double-figure halftime lead slip away in a 77-74 loss at Georgia Southern (8-4, 2-0 SBC) Saturday afternoon inside Hanner Fieldhouse.
 
Azore registered his second double-double of the year and fourth of his career with a game- and season-high 12 rebounds while also issuing a game-best four assists. Despite that – and Warren's second 27+ point performance in the last three games – the Mavs let a 41-30 halftime advantage dissipate despite leading for 30 minutes.
 
Trailing 72-69 with 50 seconds remaining, Warren stole an errant inbounds pass from Ike Smith and fed a pass to the wing in front of the UTA bench where Azore drilled a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 72-72.
 
On the ensuring Georgia Southern possession, the Mavericks forced a contested baseline miss, but couldn't corral the rebound – allowing Isaiah Crawley to convert a put-back layup which ultimately proved to be the difference.
 
After an empty UTA possession, the Eagles' converted one-of-two free throws to go up 75-72, and then purposefully fouled Azore in the frontcourt with seven seconds remaining to prevent the Mavs from getting off a tying 3-point attempt. The redshirt sophomore made both free throws to cut the margin to 75-74, but with UTA trying to go the length of the court following a pair of Georgia Southern free throws that made it 77-74, he was called for a travel.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
After shooting 51.6 percent (16-31) from the floor in the 1st half, UTA connected at just a 37-percent clip (10-27) in the 2nd half to finish at 44.8 percent for the game (26-58). Conversely, Georgia Southern went 30.8 percent (12-39) in the 1st half before going 48.5 percent (16-33) in the 2nd half and finishing at 38.9 percent (28-72) for the afternoon.
 
Azore was a brilliant 11-14 from the floor and 9-12 from the free-throw line on his way to a career day which also included a game-high-tying three steals – which represent a career high as well. The Houston native was coming off a career-high 23 points at Georgia State on Thursday. Warren went 12-21 from the floor and knocked down four 3-pointers while adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
 
Unfortunately for UTA that would be the majority of its scoring as the typically-deep Mavs received just eight points from their bench – six of which came from freshman Sam Griffin.
 
For Georgia Southern, Smith took over during a crucial stretch in the middle of the 2nd half and finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 16 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Elijah McCadden (12), Quan Jackson (12) and Trevion Lamar (11) rounded out the quartet of double-figure scorers for the Eagles.
 
The key difference came in the form of second-chance points as Georgia Southern held an 11-2 edge in that category while also attempting 14 more shots from the floor despite grabbing just one more offensive rebound than UTA (12-11).
 
UTA entered the game in the top-30 nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 11.6 (were ranked 11th with 10.8 entering Thursday's game when they had a season-high 20 at Georgia State). Georgia Southern, meanwhile was ranked in the top-10 nationally in steals (10.1), turnover margin (+6.5) and turnovers forced (19.1).
 
The Mavs turned the ball over 18 times – their 2nd-highest total of the year – and those led to 13 Georgia Southern points. The Eagles finished with eight steals.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"Once again our late-game rebounding and lack of finishing cost us. We gave up a key offensive rebound and we missed several close chances at the rim which could have turned the game in our favor. We knew Georgia Southern was going to make a run at us, but we can't turn the ball over 18 times and expect to beat good teams on the road. We put up a good fight, but it's not good enough and we've got to find a way to close these games out."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
UTA controlled the opening half, leading for all but two minutes but never by more than its aforementioned 11-point edge at the break. That came following an impressive sequence in which Jabari Narcis (four points, eight rebounds) blocked a shot and Warren went coast-to-coast to throw down a massive right-handed dunk.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
UTA maintained that double-figure lead five minutes into the half, but Georgia Southern put together an 11-2 run over the next three minutes to trim the Mavs' lead to 50-49 with 12 minutes to play.
 
A big 3-pointer by Warren gave UTA a little cushion at four points, but the Eagles – who opened league play Thursday by overcoming an eight-point deficit with six minutes remaining to defeat Texas State – eventually tied things up at 55-55. The game remained equal at 59-59 before Georgia Southern built a four-point advantage.
 
The Mavericks responded and re-tied the contest at 69-69 with under three minutes remaining following an Azore steal and fastbreak-dunk finish. However, despite tying the game again at 72-72 a few moments later, it wasn't enough as UTA dropped its first two conference road games by a combined nine points.
 
THIS AND THAT

• UTA was picked to finish 2nd in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll with 124 points, while Georgia Southern was right behind in 3rd with 121 points.
• The Mavs also started Sun Belt play 0-2 last year (home losses to Georgia State and Georgia Southern), but rebounded to win 12 of their final 16 regular-season games to finish the year at 12-6 in Sun Belt play (tied for 2nd place) and 17-16 overall.
• The contest was a rematch of last year's Sun Belt Tournament Semifinal, which was won by UTA, 67-58. The Mavs also claimed a victory in Statesboro last season, 72-67.
• While UTA entered the game just 4-8 on the year, six of those losses have been by eight points or less, and five of those had come on the road or at a neutral site against NET Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents.

NEXT UP
UTA will break for the holidays before returning to Sun Belt action once again on the road for a swing through Arkansas: Jan. 2 at Arkansas State and Jan. 4 at Little Rock.
   
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
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