UT Arlington men fail to capitalize against Louisiana-Monroe
After again trailing most of the way Saturday night, UT Arlington’s rally wasn’t enough to beat Louisiana-Monroe and take sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt.
Instead, the Warhawks erased UTA’s last-minute lead with a clutch putback from Mack Foster and a defensive stop to earn a 64-61 win over the Mavericks at College Park Center.
The loss sends UTA tumbling into fourth place with five games to go.
The Mavericks had another tough night from long range. Despite a heavy commitment to the 3-pointer, UTA was just 7 of 27 from beyond the arc.
Monroe is just too good defensively for us to score on.
UTA coach Scott Cross
“We didn’t have a great shooting night tonight,” said coach Scott Cross. “We’ve been able to overcome that at times this season and figure out other ways to win basketball games. Monroe is just too good defensively for us to score on.”
The Mavericks missed seven free throws and went cold as soon as they tied things up midway through the second half.
The Warhawks (15-12, 11-5) controlled the pace and held the lead for nearly 29 minutes.
Midway through the second half, however, the Mavericks (18-8, 9-6) grabbed their first lead since early in the first half. The Warhawks — playing with a seven-man rotation — ran into foul trouble and were limited to just five players the rest of the way.
But the Mavericks didn’t capitalize, hitting just one of their next nine shots, and failed to give themselves room to work with.
Kaelon Wilson drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:06 remaining to give UTA a 59-58 lead, but the Mavericks couldn’t hold on. Foster’s putback and four straight free throws put the game away and kept the Mavericks from grabbing that pivotal second seed.
Majok Deng, the Sun Belt’s leading scorer, had only eight points but blocked nine shots and made life miserable for UTA’s guard-heavy lineup.
Jorge Bilbao turned in his best game of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds for UTA.
LOUISIANA-MONROE (15-12): Harvey 3-6 1-1 7, Samuel 3-6 0-0 8, Coppola 6-12 3-4 19, Deng 2-12 4-4 8, Roberson 4-13 1-2 10, Munnings 1-7 0-1 2, Foster 3-4 2-2 10. Totals 22-60 11-14 64.
UTA (18-8): Neal 2-11 2-2 7, Charles 1-8 0-0 3, Wilson 4-11 3-5 12, Jones 3-8 1-2 8, Bilbao 6-10 5-8 18, Eubanks 2-5 1-2 6, Hawkins 2-3 0-0 5, Pallas 0-1 0-0 0, Pope 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 21-60 12-19 61.
Halftime—Louisiana-Monroe 26, UTA 22. 3-Point Goals—Louisiana-Monroe 9-21 (Coppola 4-7, Foster 2-2, Samuel 2-3, Roberson 1-3, Deng 0-2, Munnings 0-4), UTA 7-27 (Hawkins 1-1, Bilbao 1-1, Wilson 1-2, Eubanks 1-3, Jones 1-5, Neal 1-7, Charles 1-7, Pope 0-1). Fouled Out—Harvey, Samuel. Rebounds—Louisiana-Monroe 44 (Deng 9), UTA 39 (Bilbao 11). Assists—Louisiana-Monroe 15 (Coppola 6), UTA 15 (Neal 7). Total Fouls—Louisiana-Monroe 19, UTA 16. Technical—Samuel. A—NA.
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 11:09 PM with the headline "UT Arlington men fail to capitalize against Louisiana-Monroe."