LAS VEGAS – A valiant postseason run by the UT Arlington men's basketball team came to a heartbreaking end with an 89-74 loss to Grand Canyon in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament inside Orleans Arena Saturday night.
 
Down by as many as 11 early in the 2nd half, the #3 seed Mavericks managed to pull within three on a Brandyn Talbot pull-up 3-pointer in transition with 3:25 remaining, but #1 seed GCU answered with eight-consecutive points to take a 78-67 lead with 1:43 left.
 
UTA (20-14) didn't quit, though, as Phillip Russell scored seven-straight points – including a tough mid-range jumper to cap the run that pulled the Mavs back within four with 46 seconds left, 78-74. From there, however, Grand Canyon (29-4) scored the game's next six points from the foul line and closed on an 11-0 run.
 
The biggest factors in the game's outcome were free throws and turnovers. Grand Canyon went 37-50 from the charity stripe while UTA attempted just 22 and connected on 14, representing a +23 difference in scoring from the line. Meanwhile, the Lopes forced UTA into a season-high 26 turnovers, which led to a 32-11 scoring advantage in points off giveaways.
 
Russell led UTA with 22 points on 9-16 shooting, including a game-best 4-9 from long distance. Shemar Wilson (13) and Akili Vining (10) combined to add 23 while DaJuan Gordon totaled seven points and a team-best seven boards. Russell and Vining each chipped in a team-best four assists. For Vining, it was his first double-figure scoring effort since Jan. 20.
 
Grand Canyon's Tyon Grant-Foster led the Lopes with 22 points while Ray Harrison (19), Lok Wur (16) and Jovan Blacksher Jr. (14) also reached double-figures. Grant-Foster and Harrison combined to make 20-29 from the foul line.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• UTA held GCU to just 39.7% (23-58) from the field while connecting at 49% (25-51).
• The Mavs made 10 3-pointers (10-27), representing the 13th time this year they notched double-figure 3s in a contest after doing so only 10 times in the previous two seasons combined.
• UTA utilized the following starting lineup: Russell, Makaih Williams, Gordon, Aaron Cash and Wilson; Wilson is the only Mav to start all 34 games this season. That starting quintet lost for the first time this season (4-1).

QUOTABLE
"First off, GCU is a heck of a team and I tip my hat to them; they've been good all year and they were good tonight. It's hard to beat a team when you turn the ball over 26 times and they get so many free throws because we're fouling. But I'm proud of the guys for how they fought all season."
– UTA Head Coach KT Turner
 

GAME FLOW
UTA got off to a fast start in front of more than 4,000 fans – the majority of which were rooting for the Lopes – and silenced them with a 12-5 beginning over the first seven minutes. The Mavs remained in front by as much as five, 15-10, and led for the duration of the opening 10 minutes.
 
However, on a Wur dunk at the 10-minute mark, the Lopes went in front by two, 19-17, and they never relinquished that lead the rest of the night.
 
The Mavs were never out of reach until the closing moments as GCU led by double figures only briefly in the 2nd half, with Lopes' advantage staying between six and nine points the majority of the time.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was UTA's second appearance in the WAC Tournament Final along with a 2013 loss to New Mexico State; the Mavs have reached the final game in two of the three years it has been a member of the league.
• The loss ends an eight-game winning streak for the Mavs, which was the program's longest since 2017 and the sixth-longest active stretch in the nation.
• UTA's 16 first half turnovers was a season-high, just ahead of their 14 against GCU at home on Jan. 27.
• Despite the loss, UTA still has posted a 20-win campaign for the first time since going 21-13 in 2017-18.
• UTA also exceeded expectations as the Mavs finished 3rd in the WAC after being picked 8th in the Preseason Coaches Poll – the highest jump by any team in the country.
• The 50 free throws GCU attempted are the 2nd most by any UTA opponent in the last 15 seasons (Arkansas State: 53 on Feb. 27, 2016).
• UTA hadn't committed more than 18 turnovers in any regulation game dating back to Jan. 27 when it committed its then-season-most 25 giveaways.

FOLLOW ALONG
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