Uncharacteristic shooting and rebounding dooms UTA in loss to Little Rock

UT-Arlington had won eight of its last nine games, but a poor shooting and rebounding night caught up with the Mavericks as Little Rock escaped with a 56-52 win Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center.

The loss drops UTA (12-13, 8-4 Sun Belt) into a second-place tie with Georgia State behind Texas State. Little Rock improves to 10-15 overall and 5-7 in conference play.

UTA was uncharacteristically out rebounded (45-35) and held to fewer assists (11-9) than an opponent. The Mavs came in leading the conference in both categories with 39.8 rebounds per game and 14.7 assists per contest.

The Mavericks shot 32 percent (19-59) from the floor.

UT-Arlington led 19-10 after a layup by TiAndre Jackson-Young with 10:38 left in the first half, but scored only six points the rest of the period. The Trojans rallied to take a 26-25 lead at the half on a Kris Bankston dunk with three seconds left.

Little Rock pulled out to a 10-point lead of its own with 13:50 left in the second half, but UTA countered to tie the game at 42 on a 3-pointer by David Azore with 11:23 remaining.

UT-Arlington took a 52-50 lead after an Edric Dennis free throw with 2:30 left, but that’s where things went south for the Mavs.

UTA missed its final four shots of the game while Little Rock hit four free throws down the stretch.

The Trojans had five players in double-digit scoring despite scoring 56 points. Bankston came off the bench to score 11 points as did starter Rayjon Tucker.

Tucker, who came in as the fifth leading scorer in the SBC at 20.5 points per game, contributed a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Dennis, who scored 6 points, hit a personal milestone in the game. The redshirt junior now has 1,001 career points.

Brian Warren led the Mavericks with 10 points. Jabari Narcis had 11 rebounds for UTA.

UT Arlington will try to rebound when they meet Arkansas State at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Jonesboro.