Despite four Trailblazers scoring in double figures, Utah Tech men's basketball dropped its third-straight game, 89-78, at UT Arlington on Saturday afternoon inside the College Park Center. 
 
The Trailblazers (10-17/6-10 WAC) got off to a great start, scoring 10-straight points as part of a 15-2 run to open up a 20-7 lead with nine minutes gone in the first half. Noa Gonsalves accounted for 10 of those points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Jaylen Searles hammered home a dunk and knocked down a perimeter jumper of his own.
 
UT Arlington (15-13/10-7 WAC) clapped right back, outscoring the Trailblazers 20-7 over the seven-plus minutes to tie the game at 27-27. The two sides would battle back-and-forth the rest of the period and would retreat to their respective locker rooms deadlocked at 34-34. 
 
Utah Tech jumped right back on top with five quick points to begin the second half, thanks to a Beon Riley lay-in and an Aric Demings 3-pointer.
 
However the Mavericks would pull even at 43-43, and began to methodically pull away from the Blazers, eventually opening up a 14-point advantage at 65-51 following a DaJuan Gordon dunk with 10:26 remaining.
 
The Trailblazers managed to pare the deficit in half after two Tanner Christensen free throws made it a 69-62 game with 7:14 to go. But the deficit proved to be too much as the homestanding Mavericks quickly extended their lead back to double digits and cruised on from there to claim the home victory. 
 
Demings, who grew up 20 miles from the UTA campus, paced the Trailblazers with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting with three 3-pointers. Demings' 19 points were a WAC season high and tied his career high of 19 he set in the Blazers' overtime home win over Florida International (12/30).
 
Searles added 14 points on 6-of-12 from the floor with a pair of treys, while Beon Riley poured 13 points, including hitting 9-of-10 at the foul line, and Gonsalves finished with 11 points.
 
Utah Tech shot 48.0 percent (24-of-50) from the floor, which included a 9-of-23 clip (.391) from beyond the arc. Bolstered by Riley's effort at the charity stripe, the Trailblazers wound up going 21-of-28 (.750) at the line and outrebounded UTA by a 32-26 count. 
 
However Utah Tech was done in by 20 turnovers, which resulted in 25 Maverick points.
 
Makaih Williams led all scorers with 23 points, while Gordon chipped in 17 points with a game-high 10 rebounds. UT Arlington shot 51.1 percent (23-of-45) for the game, 47.6 percent from the perimeter (10-of-21), and made 33-of-40 (.825) of its foul shots, both of which were a Utah Tech opponent season high. 
 
Utah Tech will close out its 2023-24 home slate with two games next week, beginning with a match-up against Tarleton on "Leap Day" Feb. 29. Tip-off inside the Burns Arena is set for 7 p.m. (MT).