ATLANTA – The UT Arlington men's basketball team (7-7, 3-0 SBC) used a 13-0 game-deciding run in the 2nd half and held on late to post an impressive 70-63 win over the Preseason Sun Belt Conference favorite Georgia State (6-6, 0-1 SBC) Thursday night inside the GSU Sports Arena.
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Leading by just two, 46-44, with 12 minutes remaining, UTA held GSU without a point for the next seven minutes to take a 59-44 advantage with a little over five minutes left. However, a furious Georgia State comeback trimmed its deficit to as little as three, 66-63, in the closing seconds before clutch free throws from the Mavericks sealed their fourth-straight win.
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Reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week
David Azore delivered a game-high 17 points for UTA and secured five rebounds, while
Patrick Mwamba matched a season best with 16 points and equaled a year high with eight rebounds for the Mavs, who were playing with just nine scholarship and only 10 available total players due to COVID protocols and injuries.
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UTA started a Sun Belt season 3-0 for just its second time since joining the league in 2013-14 thanks in addition to a near double-double performance of nine points and a career-high-tying nine rebounds from
Nicolas Elame, and an overall stalwart effort from
Javon Levi with six points, a game-best eight assists and five rebounds.
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Brandyn Talbot came up huge in a supporting role off the bench as the freshman scored eight points – his most versus a Division-I opponent – including a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer to cap the 13-0 Mav run.
BOX SCORE NUGGETS
- Jack Hoiberg (4.5 ppg) and Carson Bischoff (3.9 ppg) did not play for UTA due to COVID protocols.
- GSU was also without two players in Nelson Phillips (10.6 ppg) and Chien-Hao Ma (2.3 ppg).
- Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu – who had his nation-best streak of a block in 29-straight games snapped – pulled down a team-high-tying nine rebounds to go along with six points.
- Montez Young Jr. once again was a force on the offensive glass with four as part of his seven total caroms.
- UTA out-rebounded GSU in dominant fashion, 51-32, including a season-high 18 on the offensive glass.
- UTA used its ninth-different starting lineup this season – tied for the 2nd-most in the nation – as Levi, Elame, Azore, Mwamba and Akobundu-Ehiogu got the nod.
- Levi moved within six points of 1,000 for his career.
- The Mavs turned the ball over just 12 times against a defense which came into the game ranked 16th in the country in turnovers forced at 18.2 per outing.
- Corey Allen (15), Kane Williams (10) and Eliel Nsoseme (10) – a Preseason Sun Belt Second Team pick making his season debut – led GSU offensively, while Jalen Thomas pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds.
- UTA shot 39 percent (26-67) from the floor, while GSU connected at a 40-percent clip (27-68). The Mavs went 39 percent (7-18) from 3-point range as well while limited the Panthers to only 25 percent (6-24).
GAME FLOW
Neither team led by more than four points in the 1st half. UTA held the first advantage of quadruple points at 12-8 before GSU clipped off an 8-0 run to claim a 16-12 edge at the 12-minute mark. Methodically, the Mavs responded and eventually took a 27-23 lead on a Young Jr. putback dunk with just over four minutes left in the half.
From there, the Panthers closed the stanza on an extended 9-4 run as Allen knocked down a baseline 3-pointer in the waning moments to give the hosts – who had not played since Dec. 21 – a 32-31 lead heading into the locker room.
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The 1st half featured seven lead changes and eight ties as UTA shot 42 percent (15-36) from the floor and GSU 45 percent (14-31). Both teams committed just five turnovers in a brisk-moving opening period in which only 10 total fouls were called.
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The Mavs stormed out of the break and took the largest lead either team had all night to that point with a seven-point cushion at 44-37 just more than five minutes into the half. A few minutes later and they still possessed a seven-point edge, 46-39, before GSU pulled within two, 46-44.
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From there, UTA went on its aforementioned 13-0 run to pull away, and despite GSU not committing a single turnover in the 2nd half the Mavs posted their first victory in Atlanta since Feb. 18, 2017.
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QUOTABLE
"This is always a hard place to play, and Georgia State always has a good team. We played shorthanded, but the guys who got on the plane came to play. I'm so proud of our grit and toughness and how we defended in the 2nd half against a really good offensive team. We've got to learn some lessons from the final four minutes and get better, but I'm proud of this team and we're going to start getting ready for the next one."
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– UTA Head Coach
Greg Young
THIS AND THAT
- This is UTA's first four-game winning streak since a pair of five-game runs in 2018-19.
- This was a matchup between two of the top-3 winningest teams in the Sun Belt since UTA joined the league 8+ years ago. In that time, Georgia State has won 98 conference games (most) and UTA has now claimed 90 (3rd-most) (Louisiana: 92).
- This was GSU's first game since a 72-62 overtime loss to cross-city foe Georgia Tech on Dec. 21. The Panthers had both of their first two Sun Belt games at Arkansas State and at Little Rock last weekend canceled due to COVID protocols within the GSU program.
NEXT UP
UTA is scheduled to face Georgia Southern in Statesboro on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central (3 Eastern). The Eagles are 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the Sun Belt, but had their game scheduled for Thursday against Texas State canceled due to COVID protocols within the Bobcats program.
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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).
