ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington men's basketball team mounted another 2nd-half effort, erased a double-figure lead but couldn't complete the comeback as the Mavericks dropped a 63-56 decision on Thursday night to Texas State inside the College Park Center.
 
UTA overcame a 12-point 2nd-half deficit to tie the game at 50-all and 52-52 inside of 5 minutes to play, but Texas State was too much down the stretch on both ends as the Mavs had their three-game winning streak snapped.
 
Shahada Wells scored a game-high 20 to lead UTA and reach that mark for the sixth time this season, and the junior guard added four assists. Sophomore Nicolas Elame posted his best all-around game as a Mav with a career-best 17 points to go along with a team-high-tying six rebounds and team-high-equaling four assists.
 
However, those were the only two UTA players to reach double-figure scoring as the Maverick offense went cold down the stretch against Texas State's 20th-ranked national defense.
 
In a matchup of the top-2 teams in the Sun Belt Conference West, it was the division-leading Bobcats extending their lead in the standings as Texas State move to 8-3 in the league while the Mavs fall to 7-6. However, with ULM's win over Louisiana (7-6), UTA still remains in a tie for 2nd in the division with five games remaining; the top-2 teams in the East and West receive 1st-round byes in the Sun Belt Tournament next month.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Texas State improves to 14-6 overall, while UTA falls to 11-10.
• UTA was again without Sun Belt Preseason Second Team selection David Azore (11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds) for the 12th-straight game with a leg injury. Additionally, Lazaro Rojas (4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds) also missed his 11th-consecutive game with a leg injury.
• Mason Harrell played all 40 minutes for the Bobcats, registering team highs of 19 points and seven assists in addition to six rebounds.
• Alonzo Sule and Caleb Asberry both tallied 12 points for Texas State.
• Turnovers were pivotal in the outcome of the game as the Mavs committed 16 of them, leading to 23 Texas State points, while the Bobcats had 10 turnovers which UTA converted into only nine points.
• After allowing Texas State to shoot 54 percent in the 1st half (14-26), UTA limited the Bobcats to just 31 percent (9-29) in the 2nd half, but couldn't capitalize as the Mavs shot only 33 percent (10-30) on their own in the closing stanza.
• Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu continued to be a formidable presence in the low blocks for the Mavs as the walk-on blocked five shots – incredibly his fifth game of 5+ rejections in only 13 contests with UTA. He is the only player in program history with four such games, and he now has a quintet. The redshirt sophomore also grabbed six rebounds on the night.
• UTA had eight blocks as a team compared with just one for Texas State.
• Sam Griffin had an off night, finishing with just eight points for the Mavs.
• UTA utilized its 8th-different starting lineup of the season: Elame, Griffin, Wells, Patrick Mwamba and Akobundu-Ehiogu.

PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Three ties and five lead changes in the first 13 minutes of the game did nothing to separate the two teams as they were deadlocked at 16-all entering the under-8 media timeout.
 
UTA took its largest lead of the 1st half a few minutes later, 24-20, following a quick 5-0 spurt, but the Bobcats responded with a 10-0 run in just over 90 seconds to take a 30-24 advantage at the 3:30 mark. That disparity grew larger over the closing minutes as the visitors capped the period on an extended 16-3 stretch over the final 5 minutes to take a 36-27 lead into the intermission.
 
Despite the relatively-low scoring first 20 minutes, the Bobcats still shot better than 50 percent from the floor while the Mavs connected at a 41-percent clip (11-27). The big difference came in the form of turnovers as UTA had 10 which resulted in 16 points for Texas State; conversely, the Bobcats had just three giveaways which the Mavs turned into only two points.
 
Thursday marked the fourth-straight game the Mavs trailed at halftime, and they had won the previous three, but despite a spirited 2nd-half effort could not make it 4-for-4.
 
The Mavs dug themselves an even bigger hole to start the 2nd half as the Bobcats built a 40-28 cushion at the 16-minute mark, and a 44-33 deficit with a little over 12 minutes remaining. The Mavs got themselves in the bonus with 11:24 left, and that helped fuel a 10-0 run for UTA to pull itself within one, 44-43, with under 10 minutes in the game.
 
UTA continued to chip away and finally tied the contest at 50-all on a Wells floater with just over 5 minutes remaining – the first time they had pulled even or been in front since the 5-minute mark of the 1st half – and the two sides remained equal at 52-52.
 
However, a 9-0 run over the ensuing 3+ minutes by the visitors sealed the contest for Texas State.
 
THIS AND THAT

• Each of the last seven meetings in the series have now been decided by eight points or less.
• The loss was just the fifth for UTA in the last 22 meetings with Texas State dating back to 2012.
• Elame's previous career high for points was 12, set three times and most recently on Dec. 11 against Hardin-Simmons.
• This was the 75th all-time meeting between UTA and Texas State, tied for the 2nd-most meetings in UTA history; the Mavs have only played McNeese (79 games) more in its 60+ year history than Texas State. 

NEXT UP
The two teams will wrap up their pivotal weekend series on Saturday in San Marcos in a 2 p.m. tip inside Strahan Arena. The contest was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but has been moved up to help alleviate potential travel impacts with winter weather forecast late Saturday night into Sunday.
 
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).