LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Brian Warren's potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds rimmed in and out, and the UT Arlington men's basketball team (5-10, 1-3 Sun Belt) dropped a 92-89 contest at Little Rock (10-5, 4-0 Sun Belt) Saturday afternoon inside the Jack Stephens Center.
 
UT Arlington put together its best all-around offensive game of the year as the Mavericks shot 50 percent (33-66) from the floor en route to a season-high point total, but UTA allowed a season-worst 92 points courtesy of the Trojans shooting 56 percent from the field (30-54) – the highest rate any opponent has connected from against the Mavs this year.
 
True freshman Sam Griffin led UTA with a season-high-tying 20 points off the bench, while Jordan Phillips added a career-best 18 in a starting role. Radshad Davis registered a season high with 17 points as well, while David Azore notched 16 and Brian Warren tallied 14 to complete the quintet of double-figure scorers for the Mavs.
 
Trailing by eight points with three minutes remaining and by five with under a minute left, UTA mounted a resilient comeback. Davis converted a layup to make it a 91-89 contest with eight seconds left, and UTA fouled exactly who it wanted on the ensuing inbounds pass.
 
Little Rock's Jaizec Lottie made the first free throw but missed the second. Without a timeout, UTA pushed the ball into the frontcourt, and Warren got a good look at the top of the arc, but his final 3-point attempt hit the back of the rim, then the front of the rim, then off the backboard before eventually falling off the left side of the rim and sending to the Mavericks to an eighth loss this season by eight points or less.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"We executed offensively as well as we have all year, but we didn't get the job done on the defensive end. I'm pleased with a lot of areas, but we've got to learn from this and move on. We've got another fast turnaround hosting the preseason league favorites on Monday, so we've got to make the adjustments quickly."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Little Rock received a 30-point double-double from Kamani Johnson with 30 points and 13 rebounds, while the Sun Belt's leading scorer Markquis Nowell added 29 as the Trojans received 69 of their points from the paint or free-throw line. Ruot Monyyong recorded his league-leading seventh double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as Little Rock finished with a 36-27 edge on the glass.
 
Playing with a sprained right (non-shooting) elbow suffered Thursday at Arkansas State, Azore reached double-figure points for the 14th-straight time for UTA. Phillips added a team-best four assists, and while he scored just two points, Jabari Narcis secured a team-high nine rebounds, including a career-high-tying five on the offensive end.
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
A back-and-forth high-scoring opening 1st half featured a series of runs by both teams to start the afternoon. Little Rock jumped out to a 6-0 start before UTA responded with a 7-0 run. Holding that one-point edge, UTA watched the Trojans clip off seven in a row of their own to reclaim a six-point lead, 13-7.
 
Warren orchestrated his own 5-0 run to pull the Mavs within one, 13-12, but the hosts held an advantage for the final 17 minutes of the stanza. The Little Rock lead never got above nine, and UTA trimmed its deficit to just two, 46-44, thanks to a Phillips' 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.
 
Those 44 points scored were the most in any 1st half this season for UTA, while the 46 given up were the most surrendered in any 1st half this year for the Mavs. UTA shot a gaudy 61 percent (17-28) from the floor, but Little Rock was a blistering 57 percent (16-28).
 
The big difference came on the offensive glass as Little Rock corralled seven offensive rebounds – UTA had eight total – in the 1st half, leading to a 10-0 edge in 2nd-chance points for the Trojans.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Little Rock – which has trailed by double digits in all three of its Sun Belt wins this year – put UTA down double digits nearly right out of the locker room by scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the frame to create a 58-46 edge not even three minutes into the frame.
 
Still trailing by double figures, 68-57 with a little over 12 minutes remaining, UTA scored six straight on two possessions, including a four-point play by Azore to pull within 68-63 at the under-12 timeout.
 
Little Rock re-built a 10-point edge, 75-65, but with Warren and Narcis sitting with four fouls each the Mavs – spearheaded by Griffin – trimmed the margin to just five, 84-79, with four minutes remaining.
 
Out of that final media timeout of the day, Nowell banked in a 27-foot 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to propel the Little Rock lead back to eight, 87-79, and for all intents and purposes ended the game.
 
UTA displayed its grit, however, and mounted the aforementioned comeback, but just came up short in its fourth-straight road contest to open conference play.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Coleman Sparling did not travel with the team as he is battling the flu. Patrick Mwamba missed his 10th-straight game with a broken foot.
• Phillips' 18 points were his most ever against a Division-I opponent.
• All but seven of Little Rock's points came from its starters as the Trojans played just a six-man rotation.
• UTA entered action having played the nation's 13th-hardest schedule, according to KenPom.
• Despite their record, the Mavs came into Saturday as the 2nd-highest ranked Sun Belt team in the NET Rankings at #112 (Georgia State #103).
• The Mavericks also started last season 0-2 in the Sun Belt before finishing the year 12-6 in the conference and in a tie for 2nd place.

NEXT UP
It's a matchup of the preseason top-2 favorites in the Sun Belt as South Alabama – the league's preseason favorites – visits the College Park Center for what will be UTA's home conference opener and third game in five days on Monday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m.
 
The game is the final opportunity as part of the Holiday Hoops promotion as all children 18 and under receive free admission. The Jaguars are 8-7 overall and 1-3 in Sun Belt play following a loss at ULM on Saturday afternoon.
   
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).