STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball 's late comeback fell short in a 65-60 loss to UT Arlington in the regular season finale on Thursday.
 
The Texans (14-17 overall, 5-13 WAC) will have their final off day of the regular season on Saturday. The Mavericks (16-13, 8-9) will head to Abilene for their final game of the season and their third-straight road game to end the year.

The Texans trailed by as many as 10 in the second half but used a 12-2 run to tie the game at 55 with 2:11 left in the game. The Mavs iced the game out on a 10-5 run to thwart the Texan comeback.

Dior Johnson scored at least 20 points for the third-straight game since his return last week. Johnson ended the night with 28 on eight-for-16 from the floor and 10-for-11 from the charity stripe. He also made a pair of triples. He added a team-high two steals and three rebounds. He was the only Texan scorer to score in double figures on the night.

Chris Mpaka led the Texans with eight rebounds and added eight points. He also grabbed his 73rd block of his Texan career to set the Texans new D1 career record. Jordan Mizell led the team with four assists.

Ocypher Owens started the scoring for the Texans with a triple in the first 30 seconds of the game. Chris Mpaka made the early run a 5-0 start for the Texans with a layup off a turnover. UTA responded to tie the game at eight but couldn't take the lead. The Purple and White used a 6-0 run with four coming from DJ Dormu. 

The Texans held the lead throughout the first 14 minutes of the first half. The Mavericks claimed their first lead of the night after a pair of back-to-back triples. Mpaka quickly answered with an alley-oop to tie the game at 22. A pair of buckets from Mizell and Kaia Isaac flipped the score back in favor of the Texans. The Mavericks closed the half on a 5-3 run to take the lead into the break, 29-28.

Johnson started the second half for the Texans with four consecutive points to give the Texans a quick lead, 32-29. Johnson in total scored the first six Texan points of the second half.  Four of Johnson's first six second half points came from the free throw line with the Texans shooting in the bonus after the first six minutes of the half.

The Mavericks used a 6-1 run to take the lead back, 38-35. The Texans tied the game at 39 for the final time. With UTA leading, 45-43, a 7-0 run pushed the Mavericks lead to 10 with just under eight minutes to play. 

In the final 9:21 UT Arlington made just one shot with two seconds left the rest of their scoring came from the free throw line. Trailing by 10 with eight minutes left, the Texans ran off 12-2 run holding UTA to not score from the floor over a six-minute span. Johnson scored five-straight points including his first triple of the night to bring the Purple and White within two. Mpaka dropped a fast break layup to tie the game at 55 with 2:11 remaining in the game.

In the final two minutes, the Texans were outscored 10-5. Trailing by four, Johnson dropped a triple at the top of the key to bring the game within a point. But the Texans were never able to tie it with UTA making all eight of their free throws to ice the game out. UTA brought home a dunk in the final seconds to secure a 65-60 Mavs victory.

Tarleton State won the turnover battle for the first time in the last three games forcing 14 and committing 11. The Texans shot 40.4 percent from the floor while UTA shot 40.9 percent. The Texans missed 12 free throws of their 31 attempts, a 61.3 percent clip. The Mavs won the battle of the boards, 33-29. 

The Texans will have the final weekend of the regular season off and will await the conclusion of those games to know the fate of their first game. The Texans will play their first game of the WAC Tournament on either Wednesday at the Orleans Arena.