ARLINGTON – For the second time in as many games, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (13-15, 9-8 Sun Belt) took down a top-2 team in the league standings as the Mavericks won their third in a row overall with a thrilling, come-from-behind 70-62 statement win over Georgia State (18-10, 11-6 Sun Belt) Thursday night inside the College Park Center.
 
Trailing by as much as 16 at one point and by 14 early in the 2nd half, UTA locked down on the Sun Belt's highest-scoring offense in the closing 20 minutes, and behind another gutty performance from true freshman Sam Griffin and a career night from classmate Nicolas Elame delivered a pivotal victory to thrust themselves firmly into the conversation for a crucial top-4 seed in next month's Sun Belt Tournament.
 
Freshman Elame set the tone in the 1st half where he scored eight of his career-high 12 points on the evening, and he also registered a career-best eight rebounds in the contest. Griffin, again, helped the Mavs close the door as one of the best first-year players in the league scored 12 of UTA's 17 points in a vital 2nd-half stretch – he finished with a team-high 13 – to halt a five-game losing streak to Georgia State.
 
Down 44-30 a few minutes into the 2nd half, UTA chipped away and eventually tied the contest on a Griffin floater in the lane at the 7:30 mark to make it a 54-54 game. The two sides traded blows after that, until Brian Warren hit a game-changing 3-pointer from the baseline in front of the UTA bench to put the Mavs in front, 60-58, with a little over four minutes remaining.
 
That 3-pointer was just the second of the night for the Mavs, who at that juncture were 2-16 from deep after starting 0-13. Griffin connected on another triple on UTA's next possession, and the lead extended to its largest of the evening at that point for the hosts, 63-58, at the under-4 media timeout.
 
Out of that timeout the 2nd-place Panthers and two-time defending conference tournament champions whittled their deficit back down to one, 63-62, with a little over a minute remaining. That's when 6-foot-9 Jabari Narcis rose up from the left wing and hit nothing but net on a monumental 3-pointer to shove the Mavs in front by four, 66-62, and UTA didn't allow GSU to score the rest of the contest.
 
The win moves UTA just one game out of the 4th spot in the Sun Belt standings at 9-8. The Mavs are tied with Appalachian State, while South Alabama and Georgia Southern occupy the 3rd slot currently at 10-7. Meanwhile, Georgia State and Texas State are now tied for 2nd at 11-6, while Little Rock remains at the top at 12-4.
 
UTA defeated Little Rock this past Saturday – a victory which could prove pivotal come tournament tiebreaking – but still three conference games remain for UTA, continuing with Georgia Southern on Saturday at the College Park Center.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
In addition to the performances from Elame and Griffin, Narcis finished with 10 points and five rebounds, Azore reached double-figure points for the first time in four games with 11 and Warren tallied nine.
 
Also – for the fourth time in the last nine contests – Radshad Davis collected double-figure rebounds as the 6-foot-2 guard corralled a game-high 12 boards – eight of which came in the 2nd half, while adding seven points.
 
Entering the contest, GSU led the league in Sun Belt games in scoring at 78.9 while UTA was 3rd by limiting foes to 68.2 per contest. The Mavs won that matchup in convincing fashion, in particular in the 2nd half by holding the Panthers to just 29.7 percent from the floor (11-37) and just 27 points. The 62 points were the fewest Georgia State has scored in any game this season.
 
Georgia State also entered the contest with the league's 2nd-best field-goal percentage at 44.0; UTA ranked 3rd by limiting opponents to 41.8 percent from the floor. The Mavs also won that battle, limiting GSU to just 35.3 percent (24-68) for the game – the Panthers worst-shooting outing in Sun Belt play this year.
 
Finally, Georgia State checked in as the Sun Belt's 2nd-best 3-point shooting team at 36.3 percent; UTA is the best perimeter defense in the league by holding foes to 26.8 percent from beyond the arc. Once again, the Mavs won that stat-line as well, holding GSU to only 24 percent (6-25) from beyond the arc. That includes forcing the Panthers into just 1-17 (.06 percent) to end the game after they started 5-8.
 
THEY SAID IT – HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"I'm just really proud and happy for our guys. Even though it was ugly at times, I'm glad that our guys validated how good they can be. We were on our heels, but a big credit to Sam and Nick – two freshmen who weren't scared of the moment – who picked us up. David's defense was unbelievable coming down the stretch. We just competed and got the W.
 
"I also want to thank the crowd. The students were incredible and really helped us. The crowd got loud at key moments, and we've got two more regular-season home games and we could really use that same performance."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Georgia State jumped out to a 10-2 lead off the opening tip, and the advantage grew to 12, 20-8, not even seven minutes in thanks in large part to the Panthers connecting on five of their first eight 3-point attempts.
 
The GSU lead eventually swelled to its largest of the night at 16, 31-15, at the 6:30 mark. However, a struggling UTA offense got it turned around on the defensive end first and that led to an 8-0 run to trim the deficit in half in not even three minutes to make it a 31-23 contest with four minutes remaining.
 
Backed by Elame, the Mavs got that margin all the way down to three, 33-30, with under a minute left in the half before settling for just a 35-30 halftime deficit.
 
Elame scored eight points in the opening stanza as UTA shot 33 percent (11-33) from the floor, but that was a 50-percent clip from inside the arc (11-22) as the Mavs went 0-11 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
All that effort in the closing 6+ minutes of the 1st half to get back into the contest was almost completely erased as GSU began the 2nd half on a 9-0 run to forge back in front by 14, 44-30.
 
Unfazed, UTA responded immediately with an 8-0 run to pull back within six, 44-38, and the Mavs eventually tied the game with nine minutes left on the aforementioned Griffin floater. He delivered another floater on UTA's next possession to give the Mavs a 54-52 advantage at the 8-minute mark – their first lead since it was 2-0.
 
From there the two sides traded buckets over the next several minutes before UTA delivered its final crushing blow.
 
THIS AND THAT

• UTA won for the first time this year when trailing at halftime.
• The contest was a rematch of each of the last two Sun Belt Tournament Final games.
• Elame became the ninth-different Mav to reach double-figure points in a game this year.
• UTA finished the game at 40.3 percent (25-62) from the floor and 4-20 (20 percent) from 3-point range.
• It's the first time since Dec. 2, 2017, that UTA won a game when making four or fewer 3-pointers (four vs. North Texas in a 65-60 victory).
• Davis also issued a team-best four assists, while Azore collected a game-best three steals and also issued three assists and grabbed four rebounds. Jordan Phillips had six points and four rebounds.
• This was the second game of a four-game stretch in which UTA is facing the top-4 teams in the Sun Belt standings. UTA hosts Texas State next Friday, Feb. 28, on ESPN2.
• Despite their record, the Mavs came into Thursday as the 2nd-highest ranked Sun Belt team in the NET Rankings at #119 (Georgia State was 1st #114).
• Rob Lanier is in his first season as the head coach at Georgia State, but he and Ogden have a long history. Lanier was an assistant coach at Texas for two years from 1999-2001 – Ogden's freshman and sophomore seasons with the Longhorns.

NEXT UP
UTA will welcome Georgia Southern to the CPC on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tipoff. The Eagles fell at Texas State on Thursday night, 70-55.
   
PURCHASE TICKETS
Tickets for all remaining 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).