UTA Beats Arkansas State

JONESBORO, Arkansas – UT Arlington clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Championship tournament with Saturday night’s 79-75 victory over Arkansas State at Convocation Center.

The Mavericks (19-9) snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 10-7 in league play. UTA’s win plus Texas State’s loss at Little Rock earlier in the day locked down the tourney berth. The Mavs, currently in fourth, remain in position for a first-round tournament bye.

UT Arlington needed a strong finish despite leading by as many as 12 points in the second half. The Red Wolves (11-18, 7-11) went on a 25-7 run to take a 55-49 lead with 11 1/2 minutes to play.

The Mavs would come back to tie the game at 55, 58 and 60 before Jalen Jones’ layup put UTA up 62-60. Erick Neal’s 3-pointer made it 66-62 and the Mavericks were up 76-69 in the final minute.

A-State made it interesting from there. The Wolves were down 76-74 with 43 seconds left, and had the ball twice down 78-75 in the final 30 seconds. UTA has able to hold on, and Kaelon Wilson’s defensive rebound and subsequent free throw with 0.9 seconds left nailed down the win.

The physical game saw 65 fouls called (35 against UTA) with six players fouling out, including four for UTA. The Mavs had the close out the game without any bigs, as Nick Pallas fouled out with 5:26 remaining and Jorge Bilbao followed suit at the 2:50 mark. Drew Charles and Jones both picked up their fifth fouls in the last minute.

Pallas came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points, 12 coming in the first half, and grab five rebounds. Wilson had his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Kennedy Eubanks scored 13 and Neal dished out eight assists.