After a dominant first half by the Cajuns, The UT-Arlington Mavericks (18-7, 9-5 SBC) were able to rally back late to hand the Cajuns their second straight loss in overtime by the score of 84-83.
The Ragin Cajuns established themselves as the dominant team in the first half taking a commanding lead early on in the game. They proceeded to put a sizable gap between themselves and the Mavs with an 8-3 run at the end of the half to make it 42-29.
The Mavericks started to mount a rally at the start of the second half with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to single digits. Some poor shooting late led to both teams being tied up with 37 seconds left in regulation. A missed jumpshot by Kasey Shepherd at the buzzer sent it to overtime.
It looked like the Cajuns may have had a chance to come away with the win after a layup by Bryce Washington with 25 seconds left in overtime to put the Cajuns up by two points. But it was a three-pointer by Jalen Jones with 13 seconds left to give the Mavericks their fourth straight win.
Shawn Long led the Cajuns with 28 points, 18 boards, two assists, and one block on the night. Shepherd was right behind him with 16 points, and three assists.
Jones led the Mavericks with 23 points, four boards, and two assists on the night.
The Cajuns (14-10, 10-5 SBC) will stay on the road on Saturday to take on Texas State (10-12, 4-9 SBC) with tipoff set for 4:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue