SPRINGFIELD, Missouri – UT Arlington men's basketball (2-3) fell in a non-conference battle in Springfield, Missouri, on Tuesday night against the Missouri State Bears (3-1), 78-68 despite a 19-point, six-rebound performance by junior forward Jaxon Ellingsworth off the bench.
 
"We have got to get better," head coach KT Turner said following the game. "We've got to get tougher, we've got to want it more, we've got to value the basketball and block out late in games. There were a couple times where the shot went up, and we had guys leaking out and running to the other end of the floor instead of trying to get the rebound. And that's not UTA basketball, that's not how we want to play and that's not how we are going to play. But we're going to fix it. We're going to get this fixed."
 
The Mavs trailed early by as many as eight but charged back in the first half. Buoyed by a Brody Robinson three-pointer with 6:17 to go, UTA tied things up at 26-26. Moments later the Mavs took the lead at 27-26 on a Burford free throw and carried that lead for the final 5:54 of the half after hitting four of their final five shots of the half to close things out at 37-34.
 
The second half was a different story. After some back-and-forth with each team making small runs to get themselves in front, it was Missouri State who ultimately capitalized on their free throw advantage, getting to the line 34 times and converting 29 of those, compared to UTA's 13-for-19 performance from the charity stripe.
 
The Bears also took advantage of second-chance opportunities, outscoring the Mavs in that category 21-4, behind 13 offensive boards. Turnovers were also a factor, as Turner alluded to in his postgame conversation – UTA had 18, which turned into 17 Missouri State points, while the Mavs forced just 10, which turned into nine UTA points. There were 14 lead changes, but the final one came at the 9:07 mark in the second half at 59-57, and the Bears never looked back.
 
The Mavericks were led by Ellingsworth, who shot 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line. Fellow junior forward Raysean Seamster was also in double figures with 14 points and six rebounds, as was Burford, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench.