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Utah Valley's Drake Allen passes the ball against UT Arlington in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Athletics

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Utah Valley's Trevin Dorius dunks the ball during a Western Athletic Conference basketball game against UT Arlington on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Athletics

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Utah Valley's Caleb Stone-Carrawell (25) takes a shot against UT Arlington in a Western Athletic Conference basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Athletics

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ARLINGTON — Trevin Dorius recorded a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double and Drake Allen scored a team-best 16 points to lead Utah Valley to an 83-69 road loss to UT Arlington on Thursday night at College Park Center.

Utah Valley falls to 8-8 overall and 3-2 in WAC play with the loss, while UT Arlington improves to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in league play.

“We dug ourselves a hole early and struggled to score,” said Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips. “They (UTA) came out with some pressure, and we really haven’t seen that yet this season. Then we came back with 49 points in the second half but gave up 44. We just have to be better which comes with some learning from some young guys. The biggest takeaway is that it’s not going to get any easier. We have to do a better job of executing and then make some open shots. We missed some easy open shots. I thought we were doing a good job of attacking and being the aggressor. We were able to get 29 free throw attempts and shot a good clip. We attacked the rim and got there. It’s those open shots we need to knock down and we’re working every day trying to get better at that.”

Utah Valley rallied from a second half 26-point deficit with 11 minutes to play to cut the UT Arlington lead to 10 points, 74-64, with 1:40 to play, but couldn’t get any closer as the Mavericks secured the 83-69 win.

Dorius scored his 14 points on a 4 of 8 clip from the floor and a 6 of 8 mark at the free throw line. He pulled down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Allen knocked down four shots from the field, including a pair of threes to go with a 6 of 8 mark at the charity stripe for his team-best 16 points. He also pulled down three rebounds to go with two assists and a steal.

Caleb Stone-Carrawell and Jaden McClanahan were also in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Utah Valley shot a 30.9% (17-55) clip from the field on the night with a 30% (6-20) mark from long range. The Wolverines knocked down 29 of 39 (74.4%) shots at the free throw line. UT Arlington connected on a 49.1% (26-53) mark from the floor with a 37.9% (11-29) clip from three-point range.

Dajuan Gordon led four UTA players in double figures with a game-high 22 points. Shemar Wilson had an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double.

UT Arlington jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead through the first three minutes, forcing the Wolverines into an early timeout. Both teams then went 3:13 without scoring a point until the Mavericks hit a pair of free throws to make it 9-0 with 14:28 to play in the first half. It took UVU 7:21 to score its first points of the game as Trevin Dorius put in a turnaround jumper cut the UTA lead to 9-2 with 12:39 on the clock. UTA then used a 9-2 run over the next 4:24 to extend its lead to 14 points, 18-4, with 8:15 remaining in the half. The Wolverines scored seven of the next 11 points to cut the UTA lead to 11 points, 22-11, with 6:38 on the clock. The Mavs then went on a 7-2 run over the next 2:35 to extend their lead to 16 points, 29-13, with four minutes to go. UTA outscored UVU 10-7 the over the final four minutes to take a 39-20 lead into the break.

UTA held on to its 19-point lead, 43-24, with 18:21 to go in the second half and the Wolverines responded with a 9-3 run to cut the Mavs lead to 13 points, 46-33, with 15:56 on the clock. UT Arlington responded right back with an 11-2 run over the next five minutes to extend its lead to 26 points, 64-38, with 10:41 minutes to go. Utah Valley responded with an 18-4 run over the next seven minutes to cut the UTA lead to just 12 points, 68-56, with four minutes to play. The Mavericks held on to a 13-point lead until K’mani Doughtyknocked down a three from the corner to cut the lead to just 10 points, 74-64, with 1:40 to play. The Mavs outscored UVU 9-5 over the final 1:40 to secure the win.

Utah Valley continues WAC road play in The Lone Star State at UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday night in Edinburg. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. (MT). The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and over the air waves on ESPN 960 AM radio.

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