Box Score ARLINGTON, Texas  -- Texas-Arlington was hardly perfect Saturday night, but with a furious second-half  comeback the Mavericks stayed unbeaten in Southland Conference play with a 79-70 victory over visiting Northwestern State.

UTA (22-6 overall, 14-0 in the SLC) clinched the league title overnight earlier Saturday when McNeese State dropped a home game to Nicholls. They are attempting to become the first team to go unbeaten in the conference since Louisiana Tech went 8-0 in 1972.

The Demons (15-14, 7-7) got a career-high 20 points from Louis Ellis, 20 more by Shamir Davis, and a career-best 13 from Patrick Robinson. Ellis had 15 in the first half as NSU led 42-36, taking the lead at 6-5 and holding it until midway through the second half.

NSU's William Mosley was credited with two blocked shots, allowing him to pass Alonzo Mourning for fifth all-time on the NCAA's career blocked shots list.

UTA used a 23-3 second-half run to swing the game, going from a 51-45 deficit with 16:07 to a 68-54 advantage eight minutes later.

“They did a great job being aggressive on both ends of the floor. They got after us defensively but they also did a great job getting the ball to the basket,” said 13^th-year head coach Mike McConathy.
“We did a really good job in the first half and starting the second half, but we didn't sustain the level of play against a really, really good team.”

Late in the half, UTA had tried 25 second-half free throws to only four by NSU, reflecting the assertive style of play by the Mavericks, who got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Jordan Reves to lead five players scoring in double figures.

Northwestern made 61 percent of its first-half shots, including half of its 10 3-point tries, but started the second half shooting 3 of 11 and wound up at 37 percent (10-27) including 2 of 13 on 3-pointers.

“We got some of the same shots, and they wouldn't go down. UTA made us work extremely hard and that had an effect, too,” said McConathy.  “They also dominated the boards after halftime.”

The Mavericks had an 18-16 rebounding edge at halftime but finished up 41-30 on the boards, including 20 on the offensive glass. UTA outscored NSU 26-6 in second-chance points.

 NSU suffered 19 turnovers, and controlled the first half in spite of 11. UTA – which set a school record for wins in a season -- lost it 14 times and outscored the Demons 23-15.

The Demons, who dropped their fifth straight league game, wrap up their home schedule Wednesday night at 7 against Nicholls in Prather Coliseum. Their final regular season game is at Stephen F. Austin next  Saturday night.