ARLINGTON, Texas – Looking for a bounce back opportunity to close out a two-game Western Athletic road swing, Seattle U men's basketball led UT Arlington, 36-34 at the half, but were outscored by seven in the second half as the Mavericks defended their home court in an 80-75 final at College Park Center Saturday afternoon.
Seattle U got 22 points from John Christofilis and 21 from Alex Schumacher, but were without the services of Cameron Tyson following an ankle injury in the first half of Thursday night's game at UTRGV.
UTA had five players finish in double figures as the Mavericks shot better than 54% from the field.
The back-and-forth affair had nine ties and 13 lead changes. The teams combined for 62 free-throw attempts after being whistled for a combined 54 fouls.
A 9-0 run midway through the first half gave the Redhawks their largest lead, 22-15, at the 9:05 mark. They would not trail for the remainder of the frame, taking the two-point lead into the break.
A 6-0 UTA spurt early in the second half flipped the lead to the Mavericks. UTA led by as many as seven with 17 seconds remaining as the Redhawks could not close the gap down the stretch.
Seattle U makes the long trip back to Seattle to start the week, but then returns to Texas for a Thursday, Jan. 18 match-up at Stephen F. Austin. Tip off in Nacogdoches, Texas, is 6:30 p.m. Central, 4:30 p.m. Pacific.
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