ARLINGTON – Another chapter was written in the long rivalry between UT Arlington (13-17, 9-10 Sun Belt) and Texas State (20-10, 13-6 Sun Belt) Friday night, and this time the nation was along for the ride as an ESPN2 audience and the 2nd-largest crowd of the year inside the College Park Center witnessed a triple-overtime back-and-forth thrill ride which ultimately ended with the Bobcats claiming an 87-85 decision.
 
Trailing by six points with less than four minutes remaining in regulation, UTA forced overtime, had a shot to win at the buzzer of the 1st overtime miss, erased a five-point deficit with 20 seconds left in the 2nd overtime to force a 3rd extra session and had a shot which would have extended to a 4th OT fall just short as the Mavericks had a five-game winning streak over Texas State snapped in exhilarating fashion on their Senior Night.
 
David Azore registered his third double-double of the year with a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Jabari Narcis recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sam Griffin netted 13 points, while senior Brian Warren tallied 10, senior TiAndre Jackson-Young added nine and Nicolas Elame scored nine as well.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Both teams shot below 40 percent for the game in what played out on the hardwood as it appeared on paper – a defensive slugfest. Texas State connected at 39.3 percent (33-84), while UTA went 38.2 percent (29-76).
 
UTA held Texas State to 2-14 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range, while the Bobcats out-scored the Mavs in the paint, 44-20. Conversely, the Mavs knocked down 8-28 3-point attempts (28.6 percent) and out-scored the Bobcats off the bench, 31-9.
 
Incredibly, both teams committed a combined 17 turnovers – seven by the Bobcats and 10 by the Mavs – in 55 minutes.
 
The top-2 free-throw shooting teams in the Sun Belt both performed below their averages as UTA shot 70.4 percent (19-27) and Texas State shot 65.5 percent (19-29).
 
Eric Terry scored a game-high 30 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, but Nijal Pearson recorded a monster 24-point, 15-rebound double-double while playing all but 1 minute and 38 seconds. Marlin Davis also recorded a double-double as well with 14 points and a game-best 10 assists.
 
THEY SAID IT – HEAD COACH CHRIS OGDEN
"It was just a great college basketball game. I was proud of our fight; we kept making plays, but they just made one more. We tip out hats to them – Pearson is my vote for Player of the Year in the conference, and coach (Danny) Kaspar does such a great job. But I'm really proud of my guys – we stuck together and made plays, but unfortunately they just made one more than us tonight."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Texas State jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but behind Narcis scoring eight of UTA's first 11, the Mavs responded quickly and built their first lead of the night, 15-13, at the 8-minute mark on an Azore second-chance elbow jumper.
 
From there the two teams traded blows as the contest was tied on eight occasions, the lead changed hands four times and Texas State took a slim 27-25 advantage into the halftime break.
 
The entire final 10 minutes of the opening stanza was played within a two-point window as neither side led by more than two points at any juncture.
 
The Mavs shot 33.3 percent (11-33) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, while the Bobcats connected at a 42.9-percent clip (12-28). The teams combined for just nine turnovers in a strong, physical defensive battle.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
Play opened up in the 2nd half as soon as the ball was put into play as UTA commenced the stanza on a 7-0 run in not even two minutes to take its largest lead at that point, 32-27. The Mavs maintained a lead until the 15-minute mark when the Bobcats started an 8-0 run to pull back in front, 43-38.
 
Griffin put an end to that run with a 3-pointer, but Texas State had a rebuttal and eventually built their largest lead of the game at 50-43. The Mavs chipped away and got that deficit down to two, 52-50, but the Bobcats had another response and pushed their advantage back to seven, 57-50, with less than five minutes remaining.
 
However, boosted by a vocal crowd of more than 3,300, the Mavs ended the game on a spirited 9-2 run over the final 4:12, capped by a coast-to-coast finish from Azore off a Radshad Davis rejection at the other end with 26 ticks remaining. UTA had to come up with one more stop to force its first overtime contest of the season, and the Mavs did just that on the defensive end.
 
FIRST OVERTIME RECAP
Neither team led by more than two in the first extra session. With the game tied at 65-65 and time winding down, Warren isolated at the top of the key and pulled from just inside the arc – not unlike a pair of jumpers he made last year in a double-overtime UTA win in San Marcos – but this one was off the mark.
 
SECOND OVERTIME RECAP
Texas State built a five-point lead midway through the session, and had a five-point lead, 75-70, with 20 seconds to play. Narcis hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to trim the deficit to two, 75-73, and after Pearson went 1-of-2 from the line, Texas State purposely fouled Elame with 10 seconds showing.
 
The true freshman made both to make it a one-point game, and without a timeout – which the Mavs didn't have for any of the final 2:30 – UTA forced a jump ball along the sideline in front of its bench. Again with the ball in his hands, Elame drove down the lane and was fouled, making the front end to push to a third overtime.
 
THIRD OVERTIME RECAP
Pearson opened the scoring with just Texas State's second 3 of the night, and the Bobcat lead extended to four, 81-77, at the 3-minute mark. However, the Mavs bounced back with a 6-1 run and took an 83-82 lead on an Azore pull-up jumper with 1:45 left.
 
After Pearson pushed Texas State back in front, 84-83, Elame shoved UTA back in front with a jumper to give the Mavs an 85-84 lead with 30 seconds left. But once again the visitors had a response – this time the last one – with an and-1 finish with 12 ticks showing to make it an 87-85 margin.
 
On the ensuing inbound, Elame brought the ball into the frontcourt and had a pretty good look at the elbow, but his jumper which could have forced a 4th overtime rang off the front of the rim. The officials went to the monitor for several minutes trying to determine who the ball went off on the rebound attempt, but ultimately sided in favor of Texas State, and UTA's final theft attempt on the inbound with a couple second left went awry.
 
THIS AND THAT

• The game was tied on 14 occasions and featured 14 lead changes.
• This was just the third triple overtime game in program history and first since 1998 (first: 1967). UTA was 2-0 previously in triple overtime contests.
• UTA had a streak of five-straight OT victories snapped, dating back to 2016.
• The Mavs had not lost a home OT game since 2009 in Texas Hall; UTA was previously 5-0 in CPC overtime outings.
• This was the fourth opponent in a row for UTA ranked in the top-4 of the Sun Belt standings.
• Texas State (#116) and UTA (#128) came into action Friday as the 1st and 3rd ranked Sun Belt teams in the NET Rankings.
• While they are guaranteed to host a Sun Belt Tournament game next month at the CPC, UTA's graduating seniors Warren, Jackson-Young and Narcis were honored pregame.

 
NEXT UP
UTA will conclude its 2019-20 regular season with a contest at Troy (9-20, 5-13) on Tuesday, Mar. 3, at 6 p.m.
   
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