PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UT Arlington men's basketball team had its 2020-21 season come to a close in the 1st round of the Sun Belt Tournament at the hands of Troy, 91-86, Friday night inside the Pensacola Bay Center.
 
UTA trailed by as much as 16 inside of eight minutes to play, cut its deficit to seven with less than three minutes remaining, but couldn't get any closer until the final five-point margin.
 
David Azore led a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Mavs with 21 thanks in large part to a career-high 11 free throws. Shahada Wells tallied 19, Jordan Phillips netted 11 and Patrick Mwamba added 10 to round out the double-figure scorers for UTA.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• UTA finishes its season at 13-13, while Troy improves to 11-16 and advances to face Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
• Mwamba closed in a double-double as he secured a team-best eight rebounds and also had three steals. Wells also had three thefts on the night.
• Nicolas Elame and Sam Griffin registered eight points each.
• Playing their final collegiate games, Lazaro Rojas scored four points and grabbed six rebounds, while Davis Steelman tallied five points.
• Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu recorded four blocks.
• UTA finished the game 40 percent (27-68) from the floor compared with 48 percent (29-60) for Troy.
• Khalyl Waters (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Nick Stampley (10 points, 10 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles for the Trojans, who held a 47-34 rebounding edge.
• Duke Miles led all scorers with 26 points, while Desmond Williams added 20 for Troy.

PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
UTA had its leading interior defensive presence in Akobundu-Ehiogu pick up his second foul with 10:25 remaining in the 1st half, and Wells wasn't far behind as he got his at the 6:21 mark, leaving the Mavs without its leading scorer on the season as well. Those two combined for just two points and one rebound in the opening half, and it played a role in Troy taking a lead as large as 15, 39-24, with under a minute left in the first stanza.
 
However, a 7-0 stretch in the final 45 seconds from UTA gave the Mavs a boost heading into the locker room. First, Griffin knocked down a 3-point good from NBA range, and then Azore followed with yet another four-point play – this time with just a second remaining – to cap the surge and trim the deficit to just 39-31 at the half.
 
But, Troy pushed back to a 15-point lead not even four minutes into the 2nd half, and the Trojans grew that advantage to as much as 17, 63-46, with a little over 11 minutes remaining.
 
Out of the under-12 media timeout, the Mavs responded with six unanswered points in 30 seconds and appeared poised for a comeback, but the Trojans pushed back to a 16-point edge, 70-54, with 7:45 left. An extended 15-6 push by the Mavs cut the margin to 76-69 inside of three minutes, but aside from a late flurry that would be the final push.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the first neutral-site Sun Belt Tournament contest for UTA which was not played in New Orleans; the Mavs hosted a 1st-round game in Arlington last year.
• This was also the first-ever postseason meeting between UTA and Troy.
• This was UTA's first loss to the Trojans since January of 2017 and just the fourth in series history (8-4 all-time).
• The 91 points for Troy are the 2nd-most the Mavs have allowed in a game this season (102 at Little Rock).
• The 86 points for UTA are its 2nd-most in a loss this season (93 at Little Rock).

FOLLOW ALONG
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