ARLINGTON – Once again playing without its leading scorer, mired in deep foul trouble and struggling to find any offensive rhythm, the UT Arlington men's basketball team (8-9, 4-2 SBC) let a late lead slip away en route to a 62-55 overtime setback to ULM (10-8, 2-4 SBC) Saturday afternoon from the College Park Center.
 
Missing David Azore, the Sun Belt's leading scorer in conference games at a gaudy 26 per game, due to COVID protocols, UTA was just as cold shooting as the temperature outside as the Mavericks connected on just 28 percent (17-60) from the floor – ranking just outside the top-10 lowest field goal percentages in program history. The Mavs also struggled from the free throw line, going only 54 percent (13-24) from the charity stripe.
 
Additionally, the nation's second-leading active career blocks per game leader Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu fouled out in only 12 minutes of action. Fellow big in 6-11 Lazaro Rojas (3.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg) was already at home due to COVID protocols as well, and 6-9 Shemar Wilson (6.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg) played the majority of the game with four fouls.
 
Despite all of that, UTA still had a chance to win the game in regulation. The Mavs had a 46-44 lead with under 25 seconds to play when Javon Levi – who recorded the program's third-ever triple-double on Thursday – was fouled, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. On the ensuing ULM possession, Thomas Howell was left all alone underneath and converted a game-tying layup with 12 seconds left.
 
After a UTA timeout, the Mavs had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but a Brandyn Talbot 3-pointer was off and Levi's follow-up jumper was short just before the horn.
 
In OT, the Warhwaks scored the first seven points, holding UTA scoreless for the opening 3:39 in taking a 53-46 lead. From there, ULM didn't allow the Mavs to get any closer than five as UTA's both losses in conference play have now come in extra time.
 
Patrick Mwamba tallied his second-straight scoring performance of 20 or more with exactly that total to lead UTA, in addition to pulling down five rebounds and issuing three assists. Carson Bischoff tied a season high with nine points after going a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc in the 1st half. Nicolas Elame and Shemar Wilson both tallied seven points and six rebounds to highlight the UTA individual performances.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• Montez Young Jr. set a career high with 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end and three that came on one possession in the 1st half.
• Levi secured seven rebounds and recorded three steals.
• Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu fouled out in just 12 minutes of action in which he pulled down two rebounds and did not block a shot for just the second time this season.
• UTA used its 11th-different starting lineup of the year – tied for the 2nd-most combinations of any team in the nation (UTEP: 12).
• Levi, Elame, Talbot, Mwamba and Akobundu-Ehiogu comprised the starting lineup, with Talbot making his second-career star – both coming this weekend.
• Talbot blocked ULM's first shot of the game for just his second-career rejection. He finished with five points.
• The Warhawks were without two of their top-3 leading scorers in Andre Jones (13.7) and Koreem Ozier (12.1) due to COVID protocols. Additionally, Langston Powell (5.5) also did not play as a result of the flu.
• Nika Metskhvarishvill led ULM with 23 points. Russell Harrison put together a monster performance of 19 points and 13 rebounds. Howell rounded out the trio of double-figure scorers with 10 points.

GAME FLOW
Akobundu-Ehiogu picked up two fouls not even three minutes into the game and his replacement in Wilson promptly was called for two fouls of his own, sending him to the bench with almost 14 minutes to play in the 1st half.
 
That left the Mavs with one player taller than 6-5 (Mwamba, 6-7) before Akobundu-Ehiogu was subbed back in for about 30 seconds at the midway point before being called for an extremely questionable third foul on a block attempt.
 
All told, that helped ULM use a 9-0 run over several minutes in the middle stages of the 1st half to turn a 14-10 deficit into a 19-14 lead before Mwamba stopped that with a pull-up jumper in the paint. With ULM holding a 22-16 lead, Bischoff spearheaded an 8-0 UTA surge in just 60 seconds by bookending the run with 3-pointers to give the Mavs a 24-22 lead before they took a 25-24 advantage into the halftime break.
 
UTA scored the first five points of the 2nd half to open up what at the time was its largest lead of the afternoon at 30-24, but ULM methodically chipped away and eventually took its first lead, 38-37, at the 8:12 mark on a Harrison jumper since the closing minutes of the 1st half.
 
The Mavs had an immediate answer on their next possession when Mwamba knocked down a 3-pointer to put the hosts back in front, 40-38, and they extended to a 45-40 cushion before Akobundu-Ehiogu picked up his fifth foul with just over three minutes left and ULM made its late push.
 
QUOTABLE
"Credit to ULM – they just played better than we did. We struggled offensively, we struggled to shoot the ball, we struggled with foul trouble – particularly with Kao and Shemar in early foul trouble. That caused us to play some guys out of position, and we also struggled rebounding the ball.
 
ULM finished the game and we didn't, and that's the bottom line. We had a chance to finish it, but we struggled at the free throw line. I knew rebounding and free throws at some point would come back to bite us, and it did today."
 
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young


THIS AND THAT

• UTA was looking to match its best-ever six-game start to a Sun Belt season at 5-1 (2015-16).
• The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak in the series for UTA.
• Azore is the only player in the Sun Belt with a 30-point game in conference action this year, and he's got two already (30 versus South Alabama on Dec. 30; 33 at Georgia Southern on Jan. 8).
• The loss was the first of the year for UTA when leading at the half (1-7).
• Following Saturday's game, UTA are ULM are incredibly two of only three Sun Belt teams to have played all six of their regularly scheduled conference games (App State).
• UTA all-time assist leader and 3rd-leading scorer Erick Neal was in attendance.

NEXT UP
UTA is scheduled to hit the road and take on Arkansas State next Thursday, Jan. 20, before concluding the trip at Little Rock on Saturday, Jan. 22. A-State and Little Rock were scheduled to face each other twice this week, but both of those games were canceled due to COVID protocols within the Trojans' program.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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