OREM, Utah – UT Arlington men's basketball (12-6, 4-2 WAC) dug itself an early hole it could not come out of, falling 86-74 on Saturday afternoon to Utah Valley (15-4, 5-1 WAC). Sophomore guard Cash Chavis led the way for UTA with a career-high 20 points.

"We didn't come out and fight," head coach KT Turner said following the game. "They're a veteran team, they won this league last year, they had about five guys back from that team and they've been here before, we haven't. Some of these guys we have are young and they just don't quite know what this is about all the way yet, but we're going to figure it out. They're going to learn what this is about and we're going to go back to the drawing board and get better."

Utah Valley, which won its program-record-tying 22^nd straight game at home, raced out to a 16-3 run to open the game. The Mavs trailed by as many as 20 in the opening half and got no closer than 15 in the first period.
 
The Wolverines shot the lights out in the opening stanza, hitting 58.6% (17-of-29) from the field, while conversely the Mavs made just 32.0% of their first half shots (8-for-25).
 
UTA charged back midway through the second half, trimming the lead to single digits at 65-57 when Chavis buried a three-pointer, but they would get no closer. Utah Valley used a quick 6-0 run to get it back to 14 immediately following Chavis' long-range effort and never looked back.
 
The lead then ballooned to 21 in the final five minutes, and the Wolverines closed things out to take sole possession of first place in the WAC.
 
Chavis scored 13 of his 20 in the second half for the Mavericks, while senior guard Marcell McCreary chipped in with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting in defeat.
 
UTA is 4-2 through the first of three times through league play, having played all six WAC opponents thus far.
 
The Mavs return home for a Wednesday night date with Tarleton State (11-7, 2-3 WAC) at 7 p.m. CT from the College Park Center. The Mavs will be looking to avenge their lone home loss of the season after Tarleton State won the initial meeting this season in Arlington 69-63. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the radio on the Varsity Network App with Will Conerly on the call.
   
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