STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball was unable to sustain a late UT Arlington run and dropped their third and final game of the road trip, 71-64, at the College Park Center on Wednesday night.

With the loss, the Texans (11-9 overall, 2-5 WAC) are now 1-1 in the season series against the Mavericks (13-6, 5-2), with both games coming in Arlington. The two squads will face for the final time in the regular season in Stephenville on the Texans last game of the regular season, March 5th.

Cam McDowell led the Texans in scoring for the second consecutive game with 17. The senior made seven of his 12 shots from the floor including his one three-pointer. He tied for the team lead with a pair of steals and added two rebounds.

Two Texans scored in double figures off the bench, the 33rd and 34th times that a player has scored in double digits off the bench this season. Dior Johnson added 16 with 10 coming in the first half. He led the team in rebounds for the first time this season with six. Andy Sigiscar reached double figures for the fourth time this season totaling 11. He was nearly perfect from the floor making five of his six shots. He fouled out in the final seven minutes proving detrimental to the Texans. He also grabbed five boards and a block. 

For just the third time this season, a Texan tallied at least seven assists. DJ Dormu recorded a season-best seven helpers and added six points. Billy Gillispie missed his fourth game as he was under the weather. Associate head coach Glynn Cyprien filled in for him on the bench.

McDowell started the scoring for the Texans in a low scoring first half. The Texans jumped out to an early, 6-3 lead, in the first four minutes of action. After the first bucket from McDowell the Purple and White made eight of their next 11 shots from the floor. The Purple and White lead never stretched more than to five in the first half. Back-to-back layups from McDowell and Johnson gave the Texans a 10-5 advantage.

Over the next few minutes the Texans traded baskets with the Mavericks taking the lead by a basket. The Purple and White tied it up each time with the game tied at 18 with just under eight minutes to go. Each team hit a scoring drought with neither making a shot from the floor for over five minutes. With 2:45 left, UTA made a shot from the floor, the only one in the final eight minutes of the half. The final six Texan points of the half came from Johnson all at the free throw line, shooting six-for-six. He led the Texans to a 24-20 halftime lead.

Tarleton State shot 100 percent from the charity stripe in the first half all from Johnson. The Texans shot just 34.8 percent from the field with eight made shots. The Purple and White did not make a triple in the first 20 minutes and won the turnover battle forcing 10 and committing nine.

The Texans' field goal and scoring drought lasted four more minutes into the second half, for a total of 12 minutes without a made basket from the floor. In the meantime, UT Arlington put together an 8-0 run of its own to regain the lead, 28-24. The Texans cut their deficit to one courtesy of Sigiscar's successful and-one. The game stayed a one possession difference over the next few minutes before another UTA 9-0 run ballooned their lead to 10 with 11:44 remaining. 

The Mavericks lead grew to as many as 11, before the Texans started to bring it back in. Trailing 44-34, a 5-0 run via a McDowell and-one layup and a pair of made Dormu free throws, brought the Texan deficit to six. Trailing by eight, back-to-back buckets from Ocypher Owens and a triple from McDowell brought the Texans within three, 48-45, with just under eight minutes to play.

Back-to-back jumpers from Chris Mpaka knotted the game at 49 with 6:16 left. UTA expanded their lead to four before Kaia Isaac drained a triple in front of the Purple and White bench to make it a one-point game. After the Mavs went one-for-two from the free throw line, McDowell tied the game at 54 with a steal and a layup with four minutes to go.

In the final four minutes, the Mavericks offense got hot. UTA scored five-straight points after the McDowell basket to sway the momentum back in their favor. The Texans were never able to shrink their deficit below three as the Mavs iced out the game shooting a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes. UT Arlington led as many as nine in the final minutes and secured a 71-64 victory.

The Texans improved from the floor in the second half shooting 46.2 percent to end the game shooting 41.7 percent. UTA and the nation's best three-point defense held the Purple and White to 22.2 percent from deep while only shooting 27.8 percent on their own. UT Arlington shot 48.9 percent from the floor on the night. The Mavs won the turnover battle, 18-14. Both teams grabbed 29 rebounds. The nation's leading bench points per game team in the country, the Texans, recorded 35 bench points. Tarleton State was also nearly perfect from the free throw line connecting on 18-of-19.

Tarleton State will return home to take on Abilene Christian on Monday, Jan. 26 at 6 pm in the EECU Center. The game was moved to Monday in lieu of Saturday due to expected inclement weather.