LOS ANGELES – UT Arlington men's basketball dropped a close on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, falling 98-95 at USC.
 
Guard Jaden Wells scored a team-high 27 points and shot 7-of-10 from distance, while forward Jaxon Ellingsworth added 19 off the bench on 4-of-5 from deep. UTA's bench finished with 43 points, outscoring the Trojans 43-21.
 
"We started out really slow and dug ourselves a hole," head coach KT Turner said following the game. "But after that I was really pleased when the bench guys came in and just started competing. That's all I ask, I said tonight I just want to see if we're going to respond, are we going to compete and are we going to share the ball on the offensive end. We did that for the most part, we still have to go back to the drawing board and clean some things up, but tonight we moved in the right direction and we've got to continue to do that."
 
Despite falling behind early 13-2, UTA fought back to take a two-point lead in the first half at 23-21. Wells hit 6-of-8 from three in the first half and scored 20 of his 27 to lead the Mavs back. That said, they trailed 51-42 at the break.
 
The Mavs just wouldn't go away, riding a 12-3 run early in the second stanza, thanks to a trio of threes, two from guard Kade Douglas and another from Ellingsworth to cut the Trojan lead to 60-58. Douglas finished with 12 points and eight assists off the bench.
 
Wells had one of his four steals and found guard Brody Robinson for a transition three to put the Mavs on top, 69-68. Robinson was one of five Mavs in double figures, the Houston native had 10.
 
After that it was a see-saw affair, as the teams traded the lead 16 times on Wednesday night. Ellingsworth knocked down his fourth three of the night to tie things at 86, and shortly thereafter Robinson hit a pair of free throws to give UTA the lead.
 
The Mavs finished with 24 assists on 30 made field goals and shot 56.6% for the game. It was also the third-best three-point shooting effort in program history, as the Mavs were 16-of-24 from deep (66.7%). The 16 makes from distance tied for fourth-most in program history as well. Wells' seven three-pointers tied for fifth-most by a Mavs player in program history.


 
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