LAFAYETTE, La. – TiAndre Jackson-Young scored 18 off the bench to lead a quintet of double-figure scorers for the UT Arlington men's basketball team (7-12, 3-5 Sun Belt) as the Mavericks never trailed and cruised to an 81-65 win over Louisiana (7-12, 2-6 Sun Belt) Thursday night inside the Cajundome.
 
Jabari Narcis recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high-tying 11 rebounds for UTA, which also received double-figure scoring performances from Sam Griffin (14), David Azore (12) and Jordan Phillips (10) as the Mavs used a 50-point 1st half and 47-percent shooting (31-66) for the game to pick up a crucial road conference win.
 
UTA led for all but 37 seconds as the Mavs built a double-figure lead not even 10 minutes into the contest and held at least a five-point advantage the rest of the night as they moved just one game out of a top-4 spot in the league with still 12 conference games remaining.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jackson-Young – who was held scoreless on Saturday against Coastal Carolina – equally-distributed nine points over each half on the way to the senior's highest-scoring performance against a Division-I opponent this season.
 
Azore reached double-figure points for the 18th-straight game as all 12 of his came in the 1st half to set the early tone for UTA as the Mavs were never seriously threatened the entire contest.
 
After Louisiana – which has been saddled by injuries this year – shot 43 percent (13-30) from the floor in the 1st half, UTA limited the Ragin' Cajuns to just 28 percent (8-29) in the 2nd half as part of a 36-percent clip (21-59) for the game.
 
Jalen Johnson scored 23 points to lead Louisiana, while Tirus Smith recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. P.J. Hardy finished as the third double-figure scorer for the hosts with 10 points.
 
After suffering four Sun Belt losses by six points or less already this season, UTA cruised to its second-largest win of the year versus a D-I opponent (21 at Arkansas State).
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"We played smart, intelligent basketball and made the right plays, the right passes and knocked down shots. We acted like the veteran team that we are, and that was good to see. Now we've got to re-focus and get ready for another quick turnaround at ULM. We came here to win two games."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Ogden mixed up his starting lineup on Thursday, and it made an immediate impact. UTA jumped out to a quick start as Azore scored the first five points for UTA, Phillips netted the next five and the Mavericks had a 10-4 lead not even three minutes into the night.
 
The advantage eventually grew to double figures, 26-16, for the first time following a Griffin layup at the 11-minute mark, and it swelled to its largest at the time at 13, 34-21, a few minutes later off another Griffin bucket.
 
In the closing eight minutes of the half, UTA led by no more than 13 and by no less than nine as the Mavs maintained a comfortable advantage for much of the opening stanza en route to a 50-41 halftime lead.
 
It marked a season-high point total in any half this year for UTA as the Mavs connected at a 56-percent clip (20-36) from the floor and received scoring contributions from eight different players, led by aforementioned 12 from Azore.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
The Ragin' Cajuns trimmed their deficit down to five, 57-52, just five minutes into the stanza – the closest they had been since the 14-minute mark of the 1st half.
 
However, just when things seemed in danger for UTA, true freshman Griffin rose up and knocked down what turned out to be a pivotal 3-pointer which jumpstarted a game-solidifying 11-0 run over the next five minutes. It was bookended by a Griffin fastbreak layup to propel the lead to 68-52 inside of 10 minutes.
 
For good measure, the Mavs iced the contest over the next several minutes thanks to the right shooting arm of Jackson-Young as he drilled three-straight 3-pointers to eventually push UTA to its largest lead of the night at 19, 77-58.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Ogden used his sixth different starting lineup of the year, which featured Davis Steelman and Griffin. It marked just the second time in his UTA career that Brian Warren has not started.
• Steelman scored five points, while Warren – UTA's second-leading scorer at 13.3 per outing – registered just two points.
• Jackson-Young moved within six points of 1,000 for his career, while Radshad Davis netted six and now he resides just 17 points short of 1,000 for his career as well.
• All 12 Mavs who dressed appeared in the game.
• Six of UTA's seven wins this year have now come when it has scored at least 70 points.
• The Mavs were without Patrick Mwamba for the 14th-straight game with a broken foot.
• Azore has now reached double-figure points in every game this year except the season opener in which he registered seven points against UT Dallas.
• Nine of UTA's 12 losses this year have been by eight points or less, with five of those setbacks coming to NET Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents.
• UTA played the 7th-hardest non-conference schedule in the nation. Based solely off overall win-loss percentage, UTA has played the 20th-hardest schedule in the nation as its opponents' winning percentage is .644 (leader: West Virginia, .723).
• Despite their record, the Mavs came into Thursday as the 2nd-highest ranked Sun Belt team in the NET Rankings at #138 (Georgia State #103).

NEXT UP
UTA will make the bus trip to Monroe on Friday before turning around and facing the Warhawks on Saturday at 2 p.m. ULM is 6-11 overall and 2-6 in the Sun Belt following a narrow 64-63 loss to Texas State at home on Thursday.
 
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).