ARLINGTON – Brian Warren poured in a career-high 33 points, and the UT Arlington men's basketball team (13-15, 9-6 Sun Belt Conference) came back from the precipice of defeat Saturday afternoon to earn a thrilling and vitally-important 91-86 double-overtime triumph over ULM (14-12, 7-7 SBC) inside the College Park Center.
 
Trailing by four with under a minute left in the first overtime, UTA forced double overtime on a Warren baseline 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining. Then in the second extra session, the junior guard took over, scoring eight of UTA's 13 points to lead the Mavericks to their second double-overtime win this month.
 
TiAndre Jackson-Young and Radshad Davis both scored 12 points to complement Warren, while David Azore closed in on a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. Freshman Ayoub Nouhi tied his season- and career-high with nine points – all of which came in the 1st half – and Edric Dennis matched that total before fouling out after playing only 22 minutes.
 
Both teams knew the 3-point line would potentially be a determining factor in who won the game, and that is exactly what transpired. The Mavs entered the game ranked 24th in the nation in 3-point percentage defense (30.3), while ULM checked in 11th nationally in 3-point percentage (39.4).
 
UTA held ULM to 29.4 percent (10-34) from 3-point range. Additionally, the Mavs made a season-high 12 3-pointers of their own en route to a 46.2-percent clip (12-26) to snap a three-game losing streak and affix themselves firmly inside the top four of the Sun Belt standings and in position for a double, or triple, bye in the conference tournament with three regular-season games remaining.
 
HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"I'm really proud of our guys; our mindset and intensity to start the game was where it needed to be. It's hard when you control the game for as long as we did to have a team come back and take the lead, but we responded well to that. Our maturity, our toughness and our competitiveness to get that done was big-time; I felt the same way after our double-overtime win at Texas State as well."
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
In a game of runs early on, UTA used a 7-0 stretch to open up a 12-7 lead before ULM responded with a 7-0 spurt of its own to go back in front, 14-12. However, the Mavs had an answer in the form of an 11-0 surge to create – at the time – their largest lead of the afternoon, 23-14.
 
The Warhawks got back within four late in the half, but the Mavs closed the stanza on an 8-2 run over the final four minutes to head into the locker room with a 36-26 lead.
 
Keeping with the game of runs theme, UTA stormed out of the break to commence the 2nd half on an 8-0 stretch on the strength of a pair of Warren triples to build an 18-point advantage, 44-26.
 
However, ULM slowly chipped away and eventually came all the way back to tie it at 67-67 on a JD Williams layup with 46 seconds left. Davis put UTA back in front, 69-67, on the ensuring Maverick possession, but Daishon Smith made a pair of free throws to re-tie the contest, 69-69.
 
Warren – who has made a handful of game-winning and game-extending shots already this year – pulled up for potentially another with a few seconds left, but it missed, and the rebound was corralled by Andres Ibarguen, whose putback was good but just a fraction of a second late, sending the Mavs to their third overtime game of the season.
 
In OT, ULM appeared to deliver the dagger when Williams converted in the paint with just over a minute remaining to put the visitors up by the aforementioned four. But UTA had a response as Davis made a layup coming out of a timeout and Smith converted 1-of-2 free throws – one of just three free throws ULM missed all game (20-23, 87 percent) – to set the stage for more Warren heroics.
 
Off the missed free throw, Azore grabbed the board and handed to Warren. In the frontcourt, Warren gave the ball up only to get it right back from Davis, and the southpaw rose up and knocked down the baseline triple opposite the UTA bench to force double overtime and the eventual winning session for the Mavs.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UTA shot 45.5 percent from the floor (30-66) compared with 38.9 percent (28-72) for ULM … Smith scored 34 to lead all scorers; Michael Ertel added 22, Travis Munnings had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Williams tallied 12 as all but four of ULM's 86 points came from its starters … UTA received 37 points from its bench … the Mavs' held a 43-41 rebound edge … Davis grabbed seven of those, and while he didn't score, Ibarguen corralled six … both teams missed just three free throws each as UTA went 19-22 (86.4 percent) – its 2nd-highest performance of the year.
 
THIS AND THAT
Ogden implemented a new starting five for the first time in 10 games with Warren, Nouhi, Azore, Jabari Narcis and Patrick Mwamba … the Mavs had used 13 different starting lineups through their first 17 games; the 14 different combinations are the second-most in the nation (UT Martin: 16) … the win stopped what was just UTA's third three-game Sun Belt losing streak in program history … ULM was coming off its first SBC road win of the year of the at 1st-place Texas State on Thursday … UTA is now 3-0 in overtime games this year and has won five straight overall … this is the first time since 1998-99 that UTA has had multiple double-overtime games in the same season.
 
SUN BELT STANDINGS
With three regular-season games remaining, UTA sits in sole possession of 4th place in the Sun Belt standings at 9-6, only one game back of 2nd place which is occupied by Georgia State and Georgia Southern (10-5). Texas State resides alone in 1st place at 11-4. Louisiana, ULM and Coastal Carolina are all tied for 5th with 7-7 records.
 
If the season ended today, the Mavs' #4 seed in the conference tournament would give them a double-bye into the quarterfinals. The top-2 seeds receive byes all the way to the semifinals in New Orleans; the 3-4 seeds get byes to the quarterfinals and the 5-6 seeds automatically advance to the second round. Seeds 7-10 will play in opening-round games hosted on the campuses of the #7 and #8 seeds, with the winners of those contests advancing to New Orleans. The bottom-2 teams do not qualify for the tournament.
 
NEXT UP
UTA makes its final regular-season road trip when the Mavs travel to Alabama to face South Alabama (Thursday, Feb. 28) and Troy (Saturday, Mar. 2).
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
In an effort to enhance public safety and the fan experience, for all UTA men's and women's home games this season the College Park Center will implement a clear-bag policy. All purses, containers, backpacks or anything larger than a small clutch bag are prohibited, and items must be placed in a clear tote bag not to exceed 12" x 6" x 12". For more information, fans are encouraged to visit UTAMavs.com/BasketballGameday.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
To secure tickets for upcoming games and find out about additional gameday procedures, log on to UTATickets.com. Additionally, for updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTA_MBB) and Instagram (@UTA_Hoops).