TULSA, Okla. – The shorthanded UT Arlington men's basketball team (3-6) completely erased a double-figure 2nd-half deficit on the road against an opponent which went to the Sweet Sixteen a season ago, but ultimately Oral Roberts (6-5) pulled out a 71-62 win Thursday night inside Mabee Center.
 
Playing without its 2nd- and 3rd-leading scorers in terms of points per game, UTA mounted a furious comeback in the closing half thanks to 52-percent shooting (15-29) from the floor, but ORU's nation-leading 3-point attack proved too much to overcome.
 
Pedro Castro (8 ppg) hurt his back just over three minutes into the game when Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu – who blocked an ORU shot during the sequence – landed on him, and Castro did not return. Meanwhile, Nicolas Elame (7.6) missed his fourth-straight game with a hamstring injury as the Mavs were without nearly 16 points in a game decided by nine.
 
David Azore tried to make up for that himself as he delivered a team-high 16 points – all of which came in the 2nd half – as he moved within six points of 1,000 for his career. Javon Levi tallied 10 points for the Mavs, reaching double figures for just the third time this season.
 
UTA trailed at the beginning of the 2nd half by 11, 34-23, after facing a deficit as much as 13 in the 1st half, but quickly closed the gap and eventually tied the contest at 47-all with 10 minutes to play following a pull-up at the elbow by Azore.

TIED. GAME.#OnePlayOneDay // @dazore6 pic.twitter.com/pGnkZrHJr3

— UTA Men's Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) December 17, 2021

However, ORU quickly responded with a 6-0 spurt in 60 seconds to go up, 53-47, and from there UTA was unable to get any closer than four the rest of the night as it faced its nation-leading seventh 2021 NCAA Tournament opponent this season.
 
The Golden Eagles entered the night pacing the country in 3-pointers made per game at 12.8, and they knocked down 14 triples on Thursday to account for nearly 60 percent of their total points. Still, UTA did a fairly decent job on ORU defensively, holding the defending Summit League Champions 11 points below their season average of 82 per game, which ranks 26th-best in the country.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• Patrick Mwamba just missed his third-straight game with 10 points as he tallied nine in addition to blocking two shots, registering two steals and corralling four rebounds.
• Lazaro Rojas matched a season high with eight points, while Carson Bischoff notched seven points and pulled down a season-best four rebounds.
• Akobundu-Ehiogu and Montez Young Jr. led UTA with 10 rebounds each. For Akobundu-Ehiogu it was his first – and the only other player all year besides Young Jr. – double-figure rebounding effort of the season. A true freshman, Young Jr. matched his career high on the glass, three of which came on the offensive end to extend his team-leading total to 17 this campaign.
• Levi handed out a team-leading four assists and recorded a pair of steals to go along with three rebounds.
• Akobundu-Ehiogu – the nation's active career leader in blocks per game – had three more on Thursday, extending his streak with at least one rejection to a nation-leading 24th-straight outing dating back to last year.
• ORU's Max Abmas led the nation in scoring last year at 24.5 per game, and he came into the matchup 9th in the country in points per game this year at 21.2, but the Mavs held him to his second-lowest output of the season with just 11.
• However, Francis Lacis poured in a career-high 22 points as part of a double-double effort with 11 rebounds, DeShang Weaver notched 18 points and Trey Phipps rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers with 10.

GAME FLOW
UTA held ORU in check for the game's opening eight minutes, only trailing by one, 10-9, midway through the 1st half; however, back-to-back 3s by the Golden Eagles on consecutive possessions capped what became an 8-0 run for the hosts.
 
That was part of a larger 13-4 surge which created either team's first double-figure lead of the night at 23-13 with five minutes to play before intermission. ORU's lead swelled to as much as 13 late in the stanza before settling for an 11-point edge at the half, 34-23.
 
The Mavs came out of the locker room with a burst of energy, and tied the contest at the aforementioned 47-47 at the midway point of the 2nd half. However, despite numerous chances to make it one-possession game in the closing stretch, UTA couldn't get closer than six in the final four minutes.
 
QUOTABLES
"It was a hard-fought game, and I loved the way our guys competed after not playing very well offensively in the 1st half. I was a little disappointed in that we knew what we had to take away (ORU's 3-point shooting), and we had about eight possessions that we just didn't do it from a communication standpoint. And you're not going to beat these guys if you don't take away the 3.
 
Despite that we gave ourselves a chance to win the game in the 2nd half. But we have to become a better offensive team; we're just not very good (in that facet) right now. We're inefficient, and we have to be able to answer teams – especially good offensive teams – but we're just not to that point yet. But we're playing hard, we're trying to defend the right way and we'll get better and learn from this one."
 
-- UTA Head Coach Greg Young
 
THIS AND THAT

• ORU became just the second No. 15 seed to ever reach the Sweet Sixteen (FGCU) last March after taking down No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida before suffering a 72-70 loss to No. 3 Arkansas with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
• In total, the Mavs will play eight NCAA Tournament foes from last year – the most of any team in the nation. The only Division-I non-conference opponent for UTA which didn't compete in March Madness was Lamar.
• Brandyn Talbot played multiple minutes (10) for the first time in nearly a month, and also knocked down a 3-pointer for UTA.
• UTA shot just 29 percent (10-34) from the floor in the 1st half before its 2nd-half outburst. ORU connected at 44 percent (26-59) from the field for the game.
• The Mavs never led, and ORU was in front for all but 55 seconds of the contest.

🎯3⃣#OnePlayOneDay // @BrandynTalbot pic.twitter.com/X12sVD4I0V

— UTA Men's Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) December 17, 2021

NEXT UP
UTA will return home for a couple of days before heading right back to the Sooner State to face Oklahoma on Sunday, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m. The Sooners – off to an 8-2 start – are receiving votes in this week's national polls after taking down #12 Arkansas this past Saturday. The contest will be UTA's road non-conference finale, and last D-I opponent of the 2021 calendar year.
 
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).