MOBILE, Ala. – A tie game with under nine minutes to play on Saturday night turned into a 62-52 setback for UT Arlington at South Alabama inside the Mitchell Center in the regular-season finale for both teams.
 
With the contest knotted at 41-41, South Alabama used a game-deciding 11-0 run over four minutes and never allowed UTA to get any closer than eight as the Mavericks wrapped up a regular season devoid of any Sun Belt Conference loss greater than 10 points.
 
David Azore put one more bow on his Sun Belt Player of the Year campaign with a game-high 22 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists as he was the lone double-figure scorer for UTA.
 
Patrick Mwamba scored all eight of his points in the 1st half, and Nicolas Elame and Lazaro Rojas both came off the bench to notch eight points as well, with Rojas securing four rebounds and Elame recording three steals and a pair of boards.
 
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu did not score, but capped a potential Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year performance with an incredible six-block, seven-rebound outing off the bench – his sixth game of 4+ rejections in Sun Belt play this year.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• UTA falls to 11-17 overall and finishes the Sun Belt season with a 7-10 mark, while South Alabama improves to 19-10 and 9-7.
• Carson Bischoff posted a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points as UTA had just five players score.
• UTA was without Brandyn Talbot due to a non-COVID illness.
• The Mavs used their 14th-different starting lineup this year: Javon Levi, Carson Bischoff, Azore, Mwamba and Shemar Wilson. That's tied for the 5th-most starting combinations of any team in the nation.
• Both teams shot in the 30-percent range from the floor: UTA at 35.3 (18-51) and USA at 38.6 (22-57).
• USA controlled the glass, 42-33, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive end, resulting in a 17-6 advantage in 2nd-chance points for the home team.
• UTA also committed 16 turnovers compared with 12 for USA, giving the Jags a 16-11 edge in points off giveaways.
• Charles Manning Jr. delivered a team-best 17 points for the Jags, who also got 11 points from Javon Franklin as their lone double-figure scorers.

GAME FLOW
South made four of its first five 3-point attempts as the Jags built an 18-9 lead not even nine minutes into the contest, and the hosts extended to a 13-point cushion, 26-13, as UTA started just 5-22 from the floor.
 
Still possessing a 13-point edge, 30-17, with under 60 seconds to play before the half, UTA connected on back-to-back 3-point attempts from Azore and Mwamba to carry a little momentum into intermission as the Mavs only trailed by seven, 30-23.
 
And carry that momentum over the Mavs did as Carson Bischoff and Azore knocked down consecutive triples just 40 seconds into the period to pull UTA within one, 30-29, thanks to a 12-0 run. After the two teams went back-and-forth over the next seven minutes, Rojas put the Mavs in front, 38-37, for the first time since it was 2-0 with a bank shot at the 12-minute mark.
 
Fast forward a few minutes, and the Jags turned a aforementioned 41-41 deadlock at the 9-minute juncture into a 52-41 advantage over the ensuring five minutes before Azore finally brought the 11-0 run to an end with three free throws. However, that would be as close as UTA would get the rest of the way.
 
QUOTABLE
"Credit to South Alabama – they played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Credit to our team for fighting back and taking the lead in the 2nd half after being down double digits. We again put ourselves in position to win a tough game on the road, but we just self-destructed in some crucial moments. We didn't value the ball and we just got beat on the glass – it's been a problem and you're just not going to win when you can't rebound the ball."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young
 

THIS AND THAT

• UTA's average loss in conference play this year was just 5.6 points per game.
• This was UTA's final official Sun Belt game (postseason tournament games do not count on the conference records). The Mavs conclude their nine-year tenure in the SBC with an all-time record of 94-72 (.566).
• These same two teams opened their respective Sun Belt seasons against each other in Arlington on Dec. 30, with UTA claiming an 89-87 overtime triumph.

NEXT UP
UTA will begin Sun Belt Tournament action with a First Round game on Thursday, Mar. 3, from the Pensacola Bay Center. More information will be released later on Friday evening.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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