MONROE, La. – Down four points with 13 seconds to play, the UT Arlington men's basketball team completed an incredible regulation comeback to wrap up a weekend road sweep at ULM Saturday, 75-74, in front of a mostly-stunned Fant-Ewing Coliseum audience.
UTA found itself down, 74-70, following a pair of free throws by Koreem Ozier at the 21-second mark. On the ensuing Maverick possession,
Jordan Phillips drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to bring the visitors within one, 74-73, with 11 seconds left.
On the ensuing inbound pass,
Davis Steelman got his hand on a dribble attempt up the court, and the ball re-directed to
Shahada Wells at the top of the ULM 3-point arc. Wells gathered, and with 8 seconds showing took a couple dribbles before delivering a perfect bounce pass from the right elbow to the opposite low block, where
Fredelin De La Cruz uncontested layed in the eventual game-winning points for the Mavs with under 6 seconds left.
With timeouts at its disposal, ULM elected to not stop the clock and pushed the ball into the frontcourt. That insurgence was met with a blockade by Phillips and
Patrick Mwamba along the right sideline, and the Warhawks never got a shot attempt off as UTA swept a crucial weekend series from a ULM squad which entered this week 2-0 in Sun Belt play.
Sam Griffin continued his stellar play with 18 points – his third-straight game of 18+ points – while Phillips added a season-best 16 to finish close behind to aid in the quintet of double-figure scorers for the Mavs.
Once again shorthanded by three key players out, UTA was unfazed as De La Cruz finished with 12 points, Wells added 11 and
Patrick Mwamba posted his second-straight double-figure scoring day with 10 as the Mavs evened their conference record.
For the second-straight game, UTA was without David Azore (11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds), Nicolas Elame (7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 assists) and Lazaro Rojas (4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds) due to injuries. Entering this weekend that trio had accounted for nearly 25 percent of UTA's scoring on the season and almost 30 percent of its rebounding.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- UTA improves to 6-6 overall on the year and 2-2 in Sun Belt play, while ULM falls to 4-7 and 2-2.
- Wells put together arguably his best all-around game with UTA as he finished with game bests of seven assists and six rebounds as well.
- Grayson Carter grabbed a game-and-career best eight rebounds to go along with four points in 21 minutes.
- Steelman registered a game-best four steals while adding two points and three rebounds.
- UTA shot 90 percent from the free-throw line (18-20), compared with ULM's 55 percent (6-11).
- ULM was led by 19 points on 5-5 3-point shooting from Josh Nicholas. Russell Harrison and Ozier both recorded 15 points, while Elijah Gonzales closed the day with 10 points to conclude the quartet of double-figure scorers for the Warhawks.
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Similar to the night before, Griffin spearheaded UTA's offense as he tallied 11 of its first 17 points as the sophomore guard found himself in double figures for the fourth-straight game in only six minutes.
He helped push the Mavs to an early 17-13 lead not even seven minutes into the contest, but ULM eventually built multiple leads of six points, the latest coming at 37-31 with just under two minutes to play in the half.
However, UTA closed on an 8-1 run over the final 102 seconds, which was capped by a half-court buzzer-beater from Griffin to give him 16 points entering the break and the Mavs a 39-38 advantage after 20 minutes.
ULM extended back to its largest lead of six on several occasions early in the 2nd half, but an eventual 7-1 run by the Mavs midway through the stanza gave UTA a 64-60 advantage at the 8-minute mark following De La Cruz's second 3-pointer of the season.
A few minutes later, the Warhawks used a 7-0 run to claim a 69-66 cushion with 4:20 left, resulting in a UTA timeout. That resulted in an ensuing layup by Mwamba, and a pair of free throws by De La Cruz a few minutes later actually gave UTA a 70-69 advantage with less than two minutes to play.
However, a Gonzalez 3-pointer on the next ULM possession put the Warhawks back in front, 72-70. A missed opportunity on the UTA offensive end resulted in ULM with a chance to extend its lead at the free-throw line, and that's exactly what Ozier did with a pair of makes with 21 ticks left before the Mavs' final heroics.
THIS AND THAT
- This was UTA's final contest of four-straight road games to open Sun Belt play for the second-straight season – the only team in the league to be dealt that hand.
- UTA has now won eight of the last nine meetings with the Warhawks.
NEXT UP
UTA will return home for the first time in conference play when the Mavs embark on a four-game homestand by hosting Louisiana for a pair of contests next weekend, Jan. 15-16, with start times of 6 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The Ragin' Cajuns are 8-3 on the year and 2-2 in conference play after opening with a split at home against Texas State last weekend and a split – albeit controversially – with Little Rock this weekend.
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).
