ARLINGTON, Texas – Myron Gardner registered his first career double-double, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but a sluggish starts and turnover woes proved costly for Little Rock in an 85-70 loss to UT Arlington at the College Park Center.
Gardner put together his best game in a Trojan uniform, scoring 16 of his 24 points in the second half to keep the Trojans in the game and going 9-of-13 from the floor. He becomes the fifth different Trojan to register a double-double this season.
He was one of three Trojans to finish in double figures, followed by 17 points from
Jovan Stulic, who was 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three with four rebounds.
Jordan Jefferson added 14 points, going 4-of-6 from three point range.
D.J. Smith just missed reaching double figures, scoring eight points and tying his career high with eight assists.
CJ White finished with five and
Isaiah Palermo had a pair to round out the scoring for Little Rock who played just seven players on the evening.
For the game, Little Rock shot 50.0% for the game, making 24-of-48, while knocking down 11-of-28 from three point range. But turnovers proved to be very costly as Little Rock committed 18 turnovers on the night compared to just six for UT Arlington, leading to a 26-11 edge for the Mavericks in points off turnovers.
The final game against the Mavericks as league members couldn't have started out worse for Little Rock as a UT Arlington press frustrated the Trojans, resulting in six turnovers in the first three minutes as UTA raced out to a 12-0 lead.
But Little Rock would recover from the sluggish start, slowly starting to chip away at the Maverick lead. A 10-2 Trojan run pulled the Trojans within four at 14-10 as Little Rock began to match UT Arlington basket-for-basket.
The Trojan three point shooting found its groove over the final 10 minutes as six of Little Rock's final seven baskets of the half were from beyond the arc. Four of those came from Stulic, who led all scorers with 16 points through the opening 20 minutes, with the lone two pointer a thunderous put-back dunk by Gardner off a missed three from Smith.
Trailing 37-34, Little Rock had a pair of opportunities to pull even or take the lead, but a pair of unforced turnovers in the final minute of the half came back to bite the Trojans as UT Arlington took the 40-34 lead into halftime. Little Rock shot 50% from the floor and was 6-of-14 from beyond the arc, but were plagued by the 11 turnovers over the first 20 minutes.
Both teams continued their hot shooting in the second half, but UTA found its touch from beyond the arc, knocking down 6-of-9 from three and hitting 12-of-18 from the floor over the first 10 minutes as the Mavericks extended their lead to 15 at 72-57.
Gardner was the offensive catalyst for the Trojans early in the second half, scoring 13-straight points on 5-of-7 shooting through the first 10 minutes, grabbing three rebound to give him his first career double-double.
But UT Arlington's shooting helped the Mavericks get some distance down the stretch, leading by as many as 18 on three separate occasions to pull away for the victory. The Mavericks held a 32-30 rebounding edge and dominated in the paint 30-10, shooting 47.7% from the floor and 42.3% from three point range.
David Azore once again led the Mavericks with 20 points while Carson Bischoff once again came off the bench to hit five three pointers to help lead UTA to the victory.
Little Rock now gets set for its final Sun Belt road game, making the trip down to San Marcos to face league-leading Texas State Saturday afternoon. Opening tip against the Bobcats is set for 4 p.m. from Strahan Arena.
#LittleRocksTeam
