FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (1-3) surrendered a big 2nd-half run which helped propel Arkansas (3-0) to a 72-60 victory over the Mavericks Wednesday night inside Bud Walton Arena.
 
The Razorbacks used a game-altering 13-0 run in the early stages of the 2nd half in a stretch which turned out to be crucial in a 12-point final margin as UTA's challenging early-season schedule continued with its fourth game in eight days to commence the campaign.
 
However, UTA had its chances to come back as the Mavs held Arkansas to only six points over the final 10 minutes of the game. But, UTA was only able to net 14 points of its own over that final 10-minute stretch en route to having its first game of the season decided by double figures.
 
After being held to one point in the 1st half, Shahada Wells exploded for 16 in the 2nd half on his way to a team-leading 17 for the Mavs. Fredelin De La Cruz was the lone other double-figure scorer for UTA as he finished with 11 points and a team-best six rebounds.
 
Coming into the contest, UTA knew that rebounding would be critical in determining a winner, and that came to fruition as the long Razorbacks out-boarded the Mavs, 43-30, resulting in a 21-6 edge in 2nd-chance points. Arkansas also doubled-up UTA in the paint, out-scoring the Mavs by a 28-14 margin.
 
Moses Moody led all scorers as the freshman tallied a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds to lead a quartet of double-figure scorers for Arkansas, which led for 35 minutes.
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Carson Bischoff's first 3-pointer as a Mav knotted the game up at 12-12 before Arkansas rattled off seven-straight points to take a 19-12 lead. However, UTA trimmed that to get back within a possession, 19-16, at the midway point of the 1st half.
 
But, UTA's 2nd-leading scorer, David Azore, picked up two fouls in a 10-second span and the Razorbacks wasted little time in taking advantage by putting together a 7-0 spurt and slowly continued to grow that advantage before taking a 44-33 halftime lead.
 
The 1st half for the Mavs was littered with foul trouble as Nicolas Elame and Patrick Mwamba joined Azore with two fouls each as part of 12 total for UTA, including a technical. That resulted in eight Arkansas free-throw makes as the Razorbacks out-shot the Mavs (47 percent to 39 percent) in the opening 20 minutes from the field.
 
UTA trimmed its deficit to eight, 46-38, in the early stages of the 2nd half, but what ended up being the aforementioned 13-0 Arkansas' run over the ensuing 5 minutes forged the SEC member to a 59-38 advantage at the 13-minute mark.
 
Wells – who up until that point had scored just one point – tallied eight-straight points for UTA after the Hogs' run as the visitors got their hole down to 15, 66-51. However, despite limiting Arkansas to just two made field goals over the closing seven minutes, UTA couldn't close the gap any closer than the final margin of 12.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Elame tallied nine points, and Griffin netted eight for UTA as all of their points came in the 1st half.
• Wells and Elame each issued three assists to lead UTA.
• Wells has now led, or tied, for the team lead in scoring in every game this season.
• De La Cruz reached double-figure points for the second-straight game.
• The Mavs recorded seven steals; they have 7+ thefts in every game this year.
• UTA finished the night shooting 39 percent (21-54) from the floor, while Arkansas connected at 40 percent (25-62).
• Jalen Tate scored 14, 7-foot-3 Conner Vanover totaled 12 and Justin Smith contributed 11 and nine boards for the Razorbacks.
• UTA's bench out-scored Arkansas's, 18-8; but the Hogs held a 20-10 edge in points off turnovers.

THIS AND THAT

• Arkansas was UTA's third opponent already this year which won 20 games a season ago and/or finished in the top 100 of the NET (Arkansas: 20 wins & 43 NET).
• This was the third time in the last five seasons (2016, 2018) that UTA and Arkansas have faced each other in Fayetteville. Even though the last meeting was just two seasons ago, Azore and Mwamba were the only current UTA members who played in that game for the Mavs.
• UTA true freshman Brandyn Talbot made his first appearance of the season late in the 1st half. He returned midway through the 2nd half and ended up playing nine minutes.
• Redshirt sophomore McKade Marquis also made his first appearance of the year. 

NEXT UP
UTA will face another quick turnaround as the Mavs remain on the road and head to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane on Friday at 4 p.m. Tulsa is 0-2 on the young season with losses to TCU and South Carolina.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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