ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (5-7, 1-0 SBC) played the hardest non-conference schedule of any Sun Belt Conference team as league play commenced on Thursday night.
 
And the Mavericks used that experience to their advantage as UTA knocked off South Alabama (10-4, 0-1 SBC) in a thrilling 89-87 overtime triumph inside the College Park Center thanks to a 30-point effort from David Azore.
 
The season-best performance from Azore – which included seven rebounds and three assists – was just part of what UTA head coach Greg Young classified as a "player-led win" as the Mavs placed three guys in double-figure scoring thanks to a season-high 16 from Patrick Mwamba and 14 courtesy of Shemar Wilson – his most every versus a Division-I opponent.
 
That was just the start for UTA, however, as numerous other players played integral roles in snapping a four-game losing streak to open conference play dating back to the 2016-17 campaign.
 
UTA led for all but six minutes all night – including all but two minutes in the 2nd half – but South Alabama had a chance to go in front and possibly win in the closing seconds of regulation. With the game tied at 75-75, Jay Jay Chandler appeared to commit a shot-clock violation with just under six seconds to play, but instead his shot missed and the rebound careened off a USA player to give the ball back to UTA with 2.3 seconds left.
 
With one timeout left, UTA inbounded to near midcourt, and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu called for a timeout – in addition to Young yelling for one – but despite all that the officials, after convening and looking at the replay, instead said time had expired and UTA embarked on its second overtime contest of the season.
 
In the extra session, the Jaguars quickly jumped out to a pair of three-point leads, but the game remained tied at 83-all with under 90 seconds to play.
 
That's when one of the aforementioned "player-led win" plays took place as Nicolas Elame rose up for 3 and knocked down just his eighth-career triple to give the Mavs an 86-83 lead with 1:24 left – an advantage they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the evening.

Hell of a time for points 29 and THIRTY for @dazore6!#OnePlayOneDay // #SunBeltMBB pic.twitter.com/IvAzspn20w

— UTA Men's Basketball (@UTAMavsMBB) December 31, 2021

Fast forward just over a minute, and USA had the ball down 89-87 with a chance to win or force another overtime period. With just a few seconds remaining, Charles Manning Jr. drove and tried to hit a floater over the nation's active career blocks per game leader in Akobundu-Ehiogu.
 
And that's when another one of the "player-led win" plays transpired as the lengthy 6-9 Akobundu-Ehiogu trampolined his way to a fifth, and final, block of the night, and following one final desperation 3-point heave from the Jags that sailed long, UTA had knocked off the team which entered the day with the best overall record in the Sun Belt.
 
QUOTABLES
"We knew how good South Alabama is, but all week we talked about 'us' and we had a great week of practice. And we've progressively gotten better in practices, and I think you saw that tonight in game action.
 
We played with speed, rhythm and confidence offensively. It was a 'player-led win' tonight; our players were engaged and knew what to do in situations. That tough non-conference schedule that we played prepared us for tonight. But a credit to our team, and a credit to get stops at the end to win against a really talented team. I'm really proud of our effort and performance.
 
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young


 BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• By going 8-9 from the free throw line, Azore surpassed Kevin Hervey for 4th place on the program's all-time career list with now 323.
• Azore also tied a career high with 11 makes from the floor as part of an 11-20 performance.
• Akobundu-Ehiogu extended his streak with at least one rejection to a nation-leading 27th-straight game dating back to last year. In 25 of those games, he has had 2+ rejections.
• UTA's 89 points were its most versus a D-I foe this year.
• The Jaguars entered the game only allowing opponents to score an average of 61 points per game to rank 2nd in the Sun Belt and 41st in the country.
• Akobundu-Ehiogu had seven points, five rebounds and blocked the aforementioned five shots – the seventh time in just 30 career games that he's rejected 5+ shots.
• The Mavs shot 54 percent (33-61) from the floor – their best against a D-I opponent this year.
• UTA went a perfect 5-5 from the floor in overtime.
• Javon Levi scored five points, had seven rebounds and passed out seven assists.
• Elame finished with five points.
• Montez Young Jr. finished with six points and six rebounds.
• UTA held a 40-28 advantage on the glass, despite Akobundu-Ehiogu playing just 21 minutes due to foul trouble.
• Mwamba posted a career-high-tying four steals.
• Manning Jr. had 26 points to lead USA; Javon Franklin scored 21 points and corralled 15 rebounds.

GAME FLOW
UTA executed at an extremely high level on the offensive end to open the night, and used a 12-3 run over 3+ minutes in the middle portion of the half to open up what would be the only double-figure lead for either team all night at 29-19, prompting a USA timeout at the 9:37 mark.
 
However, shortly after that stoppage, both Akobundu-Ehiogu and Levi picked up their second fouls, sending them to bench for the final eight minutes of the half. That, in part, allowed the Jags to get back into the game as they clipped off a 10-0 run to tie the contest at 29-all.
 
The Mavs had an immediate answer – spearheaded by Azore who scored six of UTA's next eight points over a three-minute stretch – to go back in front by six, 37-31, with three minutes to play before settling for a 41-40 halftime lead.
 
The 41 points for the Mavs were the most in any half of any game this season versus a D-I opponent as UTA connected at a 52-percent rate (16-31) from the floor and had a trio of double-figure scorers.
 
UTA quickly extended that intermission advantage as the hosts scored the first eight points out of the break to re-build a nine-point edge at 49-40 not even three minutes into the stanza.
 
From there, the UTA lead fluctuated between four and nine points over the next seven minutes until USA cut its deficit to just two, 58-56, with 10 minutes to play, leading to a Maverick timeout.
 
That didn't do much to slow down the Jaguars, and off a steal the visitors converted a transition layup at the 8-minute mark to take a 60-59 advantage – their first lead since it was 11-9 with just over 15 minutes remaining in the 1st half.
 
The two teams traded buckets over the next few minutes, but with UTA ahead by four, 75-71, with just over two minutes left, the Jags scored the final four points of regulation to force an extra five minutes.
 
THIS AND THAT

• The win for UTA was its 88th in regular-season league action since joining the Sun Belt in 2013-14. Only Georgia State (98) and Louisiana (90) have won more league games in that timeframe.
• UTA snapped a four-game losing streak in Sun Belt openers dating back to a 90-69 triumph over Coastal Carolina on Dec. 31, 2016.
• This was the first time that UTA began Sun Belt play at home since 2018-19 (four-game road trips each of the previous two seasons).
• Prior to the start of the game, Azore was presented with a commemorative 1,000 Point Ball for reaching the milestone at Oklahoma on Dec. 19.

NEXT UP
UTA will conclude its conference-opening weekend at the College Park Center when the Mavs host Troy on New Year's Day at 2 p.m. The Trojans are 10-4 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt after opening the league slate with a win at Texas State Thursday night.
 
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).