LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Down 16 points with less than nine minutes left in regulation, UT Arlington forced overtime and then came back from being down multiple possessions in the final minute of both overtimes to force a third extra period before ultimately falling 98-96 in 3OT to Little Rock Saturday inside the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Carson Bischoff – who had never scored in double digits in his two-year UTA career – tied a program record by making nine 3-pointers en route to 27 points. Five of those came in the final seven minutes of regulation as he keyed the valiant Maverick comeback to force overtime.
 
Meanwhile, David Azore continued to scorch Sun Belt Conference defenses as he delivered a career-high 37-point performance to tie for the 10th-most points in program history. He also tied for the 4th-most free throws made in a game with 17 – matching the most by any player in the nation this season.
 
UTA dug itself a 17-point 2nd-half deficit against a shorthanded Little Rock squad, and still trailed by 12, 62-50, with less than five minutes remaining. That's when Azore and Bischoff took off, combing to score 17 of UTA's 19 points in the final 4:54, including a go-ahead and-1 by Azore with just over a minute left, 69-66.
 
Little Rock pulled within one with a bucket on its next possession, and with 2.2 seconds left were the beneficiaries of a whistle underneath when it appeared Lazaro Rojas had blocked the game's final shot. Instead, that sent the Trojans to the line, and Myron Gardner made one of two free throws to force overtime, 69-69.
 
In the first overtime, the Mavs trailed by four, 75-71, with 50 seconds left before Azore scored the final four points, and UTA got a defensive stand to send it to a second overtime.
 
In that second overtime, UTA was down by five, 86-81, with 30 seconds remaining and again pulled off a valiant comeback with a pair of Azore free throws, a defensive five-second call on the ensuing Little Rock inbound and then a clutch game-tying triple from Bischoff with 19 ticks showing. Another defensive stop by the Mavs yielded a third extra period.
 
In keeping with what finally ended up being a costly trend, UTA trailed by four, 95-91, with 40 seconds left. Eventually, the Mavs had the ball back only down three, and Azore was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining. At that point, he was a brilliant 16-18 from the charity stripe, but missed the first attempt. After making the second, he intentionally missed the third, and the rebound went out of bounds off Little Rock.
 
That gave UTA one final chance with the scoreline sitting at 98-96 and exactly one second on the clock. The arching inbounds pass was delivered to Azore, who had the arm of a Little Rock player draped around his lower back the entire time he tried to secure the ball near the rim, and his consequently-forced shot just missed as no whistle was called, sending UTA to already its third overtime loss of the Sun Belt season.
 
All told, UTA moves to 4-4 in Sun Belt play, with all four losses coming by seven points or less. The Mavs have already played four overtime games in conference action – their most in a single season in program history, and this was also the team's record-setting fifth overtime contest in a single year.


BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• Lazaro Rojas had the best game of his career, establishing personal-best marks in both points with 12 and rebounds with 13 for the graduate student's first double-double.
• Bischoff – who started the game 7-7 from beyond the arc – tied for the 7th-most 3-pointers by any player in the country this year, and the most by a Sun Belt member.
• The nine 3-pointers tie Erick Neal (Feb. 15, 2018 at ULM) and Willie Brand (Feb. 14, 1991 versus Northwestern State) for the most in UTA history.
• Azore incredibly delivered his third 30-point game in the Sun Belt in just six opportunities this season; the rest of the league combined this year has none.
• The 17 made free throws are the most by any UTA player in more than 40 years (all-time record: 20 by Paul Renfro against Louisiana on Feb. 19, 1979).
• It is the ninth-straight time Azore has led UTA in scoring in a game in which he's played.
• Rojas came into the game with two points total in Sun Belt games this year.
• UTA shot 46 percent (31-68) from the floor while Little Rock connected at the same percentage (31-67).
• The Trojans made a season-high 16 3-pointers (16-31, 52 percent). That's the most triples UTA has allowed this year and tied for the 2nd most to a fellow Sun Belt opponent in program history.
• D.J. Smith led six double-figure scorers for the Trojans with 27 off the bench.

GAME FLOW
Little Rock knocked down four of its first five attempts from 3-point range, helping fuel a 17-5 start for the hosts not even six minutes into the contest. However, UTA began to lock in defensively and methodically chipped away, eventually pulling within one, 20-19, at the 6:30 mark following back-to-back 3-pointers from Bischoff.
 
That defensive effort was short-lived as the Trojans used a 9-0 run late in the 1st half to turn a 23-21 lead into a 32-21 cushion before taking the aforementioned nine-point lead into the locker room.
 
Little Rock opened the 2nd half by scoring the first eight points to take its largest lead of the game, 43-26, at the 17:30 mark. The Trojans held that same 17-point advantage, 45-28, a few moments later as they made their first four shots of the 2nd half and maintained a comfortable lead into the middle portion of the period before UTA's furious comeback.
 
QUOTABLE
"I'm proud that our team kept fighting, and fighting and fighting to give us a chance to win it. But congratulations to Little Rock – we couldn't get the stops we needed, and they continued to make the plays that allowed them to win the game."
 
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young


THIS AND THAT

• This was the final meeting in Little Rock between the Trojans and Mavs as Sun Belt members. LR is heading to the Ohio Valley Conference, and UTA to the Western Athletic Conference, beginning July 1 of this year.
• The two teams are scheduled to play each other again next month when Little Rock returns the trip to Arlington.
• UTA has now lost three-straight games for the first time since a four-game skid – all against 2021 NCAA Tournament participants – back in November.
• UTA has played 12 games during Azore's streak of leading the team in scoring nine-straight times. He did not play versus Howard Payne (illness) nor against Louisiana or ULM (COVID protocols).
• The last time someone other than Azore led the Mavs in scoring in a game in which Azore played was Pedro Castro with 17 at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 29.
• This was just Little Rock's third game of the calendar year as a result of having several games canceled due to the combination of COVID protocols and injuries.

NEXT UP
UTA is scheduled to face in-state rival Texas State in a home-and-home series next week, beginning at the College Park Center on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. At halftime, MarQuez Haynes' #0 will be raised to the rafters, joining Willie Brand's #22 as the only players in program history to have their jerseys retired. The Mavs will then head to San Marcos to face the Bobcats on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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