ARLINGTON – Behind near double-double performances from Brian Warren and Andres Ibarguen, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (12-12, 8-3 SBC) remained in 1st place in the Sun Belt Conference with a 78-68 win over Appalachian State (8-16, 3-8 SBC) Saturday at the College Park Center.
 
Warren scored a game-high 22 points – his fourth 20+ performance of the season – and issued a season-high nine assists while not committing a single turnover and shooting 50 percent (9-18) from the floor. Ibarguen, who went off for 12 and 15 Thursday, contributed 10 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss what would have been consecutive double-doubles.
 
Edric Dennis tallied 14 points, issued six assists against just one turnover and grabbed five rebounds; he is now five points shy of 1,000 for his career. TiAndre Jackson-Young scored all 10 of his points in the 2nd half, helping lead the UTA attack in the closing stanza.
 
After taking just a two-point lead into halftime, UTA exploded out of the locker room to commence the 2nd half, out-scoring App State 13-5 in the first 4+ minutes, culminating with an alley-oop connection from Warren to Jackson-Young. That thunderous finish gave the Mavs a 54-42 advantage – the first double-digit lead either side had in the game – and prompted a Mountaineers' timeout.
 
It was too late. UTA – which was predicted to finish 11th (2nd-to-last) in the SBC Preseason Poll – never gave App State a chance to get back in it, leading by no fewer than nine the rest of the afternoon en route to its eighth win in the last nine tries.
 
The victory keeps UTA – which was 4-11 a month ago – atop the league standings with Texas State, which defeated Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Mavericks and Bobcats are one game clear of preseason favorite Georgia State (7-4), but have perhaps more importantly opened up a two-game lead on 4th place, which is occupied by a quartet of teams at 6-5.
 
HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"I wasn't necessarily happy with the way we started the game; we just didn't have the same pop and intensity that we've been playing with. But I'm happy to get the win – they're hard to get in February.
 
Give our guys all the credit: they've put themselves in position to be in a tie for 1st place. As long as we keep getting better we'll stay a part of this fight for the regular-season championship."
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Neither team led by more than four in a back-and-forth 1st half which saw the lead change hands an incredible 14 times and the contest tied on six occasions. UTA took a 39-37 lead into the halftime break, and the stat comparison both ways was nearly identical.
 
UTA shot 44 percent (15-34) from the floor compared with 41 percent (15-37) for App State, and both teams knocked down five 3-pointers. The Mavericks held a slim 22-21 edge on glass, both teams tallied four points off turnovers and UTA had a 16-14 advantage in the paint.
 
However, the Mavs raced out to that aforementioned fast start to the second stanza, and eventually built a lead as large as 15 as they were never threatened by the Mountaineers.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
As they've done all Sun Belt play, the Mavs clamped down defensively, holding App State 11 points below its league average – the 10th time in 11 contests UTA has done that to an SBC member.
 
Included in that stout defense was UTA for the 11th time in 11 conference games holding a top-10 scorer in the SBC below his season average. On Saturday it was once again Ronshad Shabazz who was held to 15 points (18.3 PPG on the year). In their first meeting Jan. 10 in Boone, the Mavs held Shabazz to 16 points.
 
Those 15 points were still good enough to lead App State, but Tyrell Johnson was the only other Mountaineer to reach double-figure points with 11.
 
For the game, UTA shot 44 percent (31-71) from the floor, while App State also connected at a 44-percent clip (26-59). One of the biggest differences came from beyond the 3-point arc as UTA finished with a season-high 47.6 percent (10-21) – just the second time this year it has made double-figure triples in a game (11 at Coastal Carolina). Conversely, the Mavs – who possess the nation's 11th-best 3-point defense (28.9 percent) – held App State to just 8-24 (33.3 percent).
 
The other big discrepancy came in UTA issuing a season-high 24 assists while committing a season-low six turnovers.
 
THIS AND THAT
Radshad Davis added seven points and six rebounds for UTA … 6-foot-9 Jabari Narcis scored six points – all of which came off consecutive 3-pointers late in the 1st half – to turn a 33-29 UTA deficit into a 35-33 lead, and the Mavs never trailed after that juncture … UTA out-rebounded App State, 40-38, and out-scored the Mountaineers in the paint, 32-24 … the 8-3 record through 11 SBC games is tied for UTA's best-ever start with the 2016-17 club which won the SBC Regular Season Championship with a 14-4 league mark.
 
NEXT UP
UTA hits the road next week as the Mavericks make the return trip to Arkansas to face 4-7 Little Rock (Thursday, 6:30 PM) and 4-7 Arkansas State (Saturday, 4 PM).
 
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).