BOONE, N.C. – Coming off a season-best 3-point shooting performance in its last game, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (10-14, 6-7 Sun Belt) shot a season worst from beyond the arc on Thursday night en route to a 57-50 setback at Appalachian State (13-11, 7-6 Sun Belt).
 
The Mavericks went just 2-24 from 3-point range – including missing their final 18 attempts of the contest – and finished at only 8.3 percent for the game. That percentage is tied for the 2nd-worst in any game since at least 2010 (2-25, 8 percent versus Georgia State on Jan. 3, 2019).
 
Last time out, UTA shot a season-high 46 percent from 3-point range and knocked down 13 triples – its most versus a Division-I opponent this year – in a victory over ULM.
 
Brian Warren led UTA with 14 points, while David Azore got back into double-figure scoring with 12 points after failing to reach that mark for just the second time this season against ULM. The redshirt sophomore also added a game-high six assists and pulled down four rebounds. Radshad Davis finished with nine points – seven of which came in the 2nd half – corralled a team-high seven rebounds off the bench and collected a career-high-tying four steals.
 
Rebounding was a key focus entering the game, but the Mavs were out-rebounded by a 41-32 margin and seemingly every 50-50 ball went to App State. After committing just nine total turnovers in its previous two games combined, UTA turned the ball over 12 times on Thursday.
 
It's now UTA's sixth Sun Belt loss this year by seven points or less, and its 11th overall setback this season by eight points or less.
 
However, despite sitting below .500 in conference play, UTA remains just two games back of 2nd place in the tightly-compact Sun Belt standings with still seven regular-season games remaining. The top-2 seeds receive a bye all the way to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals in New Orleans.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Despite that 8.3-percent shooting from beyond the arc, UTA finished at 36.2 percent (21-58) for the game from the field, while App went 44.2 percent (23-52) despite also a poor 3-point shooting performance of 5-21 (23.8 percent).
 
O'Showen Williams registered a career-high 25 points, while Hunter Seacat netted 13 to finish as the only double-figure scorers for the Mountaineers. Isaac Johnson scored seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while also issuing four assists.
 
In the first meeting this year, UTA held the Sun Belt's leading scorer, Justin Forrest, to 15 points – his second-fewest in a league game this season. The Mavs' locked down again on Forrest inside Holmes Convocation Center, limiting him to only six points on 3-10 shooting, but it wasn't enough as they had their five-game winning streak against the Mountaineers snapped.
 
THEY SAID IT – Head Coach Chris Ogden
"We stressed rebounding entering the game, and we did a poor job on the glass tonight. I was disappointed with our overall effort as well. We did a good job defensively for the most part, and especially on Forrest, but we didn't win enough 50-50 balls and shooting 2-24 from 3 isn't going to win many games either."
 
1ST-HALF RUNDOWN
Neither team led by more than three until the midway point of the stanza when the Mountaineers put together a 9-0 run to create a 24-17 lead, prompting UTA into its first timeout of the night.
 
Davis Steelman stopped that surge by the hosts with baseline 3-pointer – just his fourth of the year and first in five games – to pull the Mavs back within four.
 
That triple spearheaded a 9-0 response by UTA, and following a Warren coast-to-coast finish went back in front, 23-21, with a little over three minutes remaining.
 
Warren added another layup on UTA's next possession to make it a 25-24 Mavs' lead; however, App State closed the half on a 7-0 run over the final 2:30 to take a 31-25 advantage into the locker room.
 
More than half of those 31 App points came from Williams as he netted 17 in the 1st half, while Warren paced the Mavs with 10.
 
2ND-HALF RUNDOWN
The App run eventually reached 9-0 as the Mountaineers opened the 2nd half with a bucket to create their largest lead of the contest at eight points, 33-25.
 
The Mavs were able to withstand that surge and slowly chipped away to pull back within one, 38-37, but the Mountaineers responded with a quick 5-0 spurt to forge back in front, 43-37, at the midway point of the stanza.
 
UTA was able to get its deficit back down to just two, 49-47, following a Davis steal and layup at the 4-minute mark, but App State rebutted with a game-solidifying 6-0 run over the ensuing 2:30 to ice the contest.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Neither team led by more than eight points the entire contest.
• Freshman Nicolas Elame grabbed a career-high six rebounds and also secured his second-straight game of four points.
• Steelman finished with five points, his most since Jan. 16 at Louisiana.
• Jabari Narcis also had six rebounds to go along with four points.
• Azore has now reached double-figure points in every game this year except two.
• The Mavs were without Patrick Mwamba for the 18th-straight game with a broken foot.
• Despite their record, the Mavs came into Thursday as the 2nd-highest ranked Sun Belt team in the NET Rankings at #122 (Georgia State #118).

NEXT UP
UTA will be wrap up its roadtrip by making the lengthy journey to the Atlantic shoreline to take on Coastal Carolina Saturday at 1 p.m. Central (2 local). The Chanticleers (12-12, 5-8 Sun Belt) got blown out by Texas State on Thursday night, 100-63.
 
 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).