ABILENE -- Games between evenly matched teams often come down to the team that does the little things, can get to the free throw line, make their free throws, hit clutch shots, and make defensive plays that win games.
That was the difference in Saturday's Moody Coliseum game as UT-Arlington walked out of the arena with a hard-fought 79-76 overtime win over ACU in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game. The win pushes the Mavericks to 9-11 overall and 2-4 in the WAC, while ACU falls to 9-12 and 1-5.
Neither team held more than a nine-point lead, and neither could pull away from the other during a back-and-forth 40 minutes. ACU led by as many as nine points in the first half and UTA by as many as five, but the Mavericks led by three points (68-65) with 53 seconds left in regulation after a layup by Raysean Seamster.
ACU cut the lead to 68-67 with 34 seconds left on two free throws by Leo Bettiol before Jaden Wells hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to push the UTA lead back to three points (70-67). After an ACU timeout and a play drawn up for Hunter Jack Madden to take the game-tying 3-pointer, the senior from Australia — who has struggled with his shot all season — buried a 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left, tying the game at 70-70.
UTA point guard Brody Robinson had a great look at a game-winner at the buzzer, but his running floater went halfway down and popped out, sending the game to overtime.
The Mavs won the final five minutes, partly thanks to Robinson, who hit two free throws and buried a 3-pointer. The 3-pointer came after an offensive rebound by Lance Ware, who finished with 18 points on 8 of 8 shooting and 14 rebounds. Ware kicked the ball out to Robinson, who hit the 3-pointer that broke a 74-74 tie with 1:12 left in the game.
Quion Williams — who led ACU with 19 points — scored on a jumper with 16 seconds left to make it a 79-76 game before Seamster hit a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to make it 79-76. UTA called a timeout to set up its defense, and the Mavs ran three players at Madden on another 3-point attempt. The ball bounced off the rim to Dontrez Williams with less than one second left, but he didn't have time to turn and shoot before the final buzzer sounded.
The difference in the game was at the free throw line, where the Mavs were 16 for 25, while ACU — which didn't get into the bonus in either half — was only 5 for 7.
"I'm proud of my guys for the effort they played with (Saturday)," ACU head coach Brette Tanner said. "Little details matter in every game, especially in a game like this. We stopped short on closeouts on 3-point attempts, and some silly fouls and turnovers stopped our momentum in the first half. And where everything else was even, once again, we didn't get to the line enough, which was the difference in the game.
"And now we're back on the road for three straight, but I'm fully confident we're about to go on a run," he said. "We lost a couple at home that we could have won, so now we go on the road, and if we get a couple there, we're even. But we can't make excuses and say things could have gone this way or that way. The bottom line is we didn't do the little things to win, and we lost the game. But we'll find a way to get those things done, turn the page, and get on a roll."
The Wildcats will play at Cal Baptist at 9 p.m. (Central time) on Thursday, Jan. 30, before going to Utah the next week to play at Utah Tech on Thursday, Feb. 6, and at Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 8.
