MBB: Mavs Battle at Jonesboro, Fall at Arkansas State

JONESBORO, Arkansas – UT Arlington men’s basketball dropped a closely contested game in Jonesboro on Thursday night, eventually falling 83-79 to Arkansas State. Four Mavs were in double figures, led by the guard Jaden Wells’ 19 point effort.

“We’ve got to get tougher rebounding the basketball,” head coach KT Turner said after the match. “I felt like we fought until the end, but we made some plays on both ends that we need to clean up — minor ones, but it disrupted the flow of the game. I feel like we should have been up 12 at halftime, we should have stepped on their throats more in the first half. Our guards didn’t do a good job of coming back – they’ve got to get tough and we’ve got to make free throws. I feel good about our guys free throws, they just have to step up and make them, I don’t think there will be many nights like this where we shoot this bad from the free throw line.”

The Mavs built a lead and carried it through most of the first half. Wells scored the team’s first five, and guard Brandyn Talbot hit two quick threes for the Mavs to make it 18-12 at the second media timeout.

Forward Diante Smith scored 11 of his 15 points in the opening half and knocked down a trio of triples, his third, that put the Mavs up 29-25 late in the first. Front/center Lance Ware was another Mav in double figures, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, three of which came in the first half.

A bucket of guard Darius Burford in the final 15 seconds, UTA pushed the lead to 39-35. The Mavs shot 9-of-17 from deep in the first half (52.9%) and finished 14-of-30 for the game.

The Mavs and Red Wolves traded buckets and led early in the second half, but it was a 15-0 run by Arkansas State that ultimately got the Mavericks in. UTA cut the lead to as little as four, but it wasn’t enough.

“It will be great to come home and play a home game in front of our fans,” Turner continued. “We’re ready to go, I wish we could play tomorrow morning.”

The Mavs return home to host Louisiana-Monroe (4-7) on Saturday afternoon at 14 CT from College Park Center in Arlington. The match will be broadcast live ESPN+ and on the radio on the Varsity app, 102.5 FM and KTNO 620 with the voice of the Mavs, Josh Sours.

— #BuckEm –

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