Utah Tech could not overcome a sluggish start in dropping an 87-66 WAC conference home decision to UT Arlington on Saturday afternoon inside the Burns Arena. 
 
The Trailblazers (8-14/4-7 WAC) found themselves in an early 13-3 hole just five minutes into the game. In fact, Utah Tech was held without a field goal for more than six minutes and had split three trips to the foul line before a Tanner Christensen put back at the 13:28 mark of the first half.
 
That bucket seemed to take the lid off the rim for the Trailblazers as Christensen laid in another two, while Noa Gonsalves and Jaylen Searles both hit 3-pointers, the latter of which pulled Utah Tech to within five at 18-13 just two minutes later. 
 
However the Mavericks (11-11/6-5 WAC) blew the game open with an 18-7 run over the next five-plus minutes, which turned that five-point UTA advantage into a 36-20 cushion following a Akili Vining perimeter jumper with under six minutes to go in the first half.
 
Utah Tech managed to pare the deficit down to nine after a Unisa Turay trey, but UTA would go on and score 11 of the final 16 points of the stanza to take a comfortable 47-33 lead into the halftime break.
 
UT Arlington maintained that momentum to begin the second half, opening the frame with an 11-2 spurt to extend to a 23-point advantage at 58-35 with 17:09 remaining in the game. 
 
The Trailblazers could not pull any closer than 15 points the rest of the way as they had to settle for a split of the first two games of their season long four-game homestand. 
 
Searles paced three Blazers in double figures with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers. Gonsalves added 14 points, with nine of those coming at the foul line on 10 attempts, and Christensen chipped 11 points along with five rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
Utah Tech struggled to find its shooting touch for much of the game, both from the field and the foul line. The Blazers wound up hitting on 20-of-53 (.377) from the floor, which included a 7-of-22 (.318) clip from the perimeter, and shot just 61.3 percent (19-of-31) at the charity stripe.
 
All five UTA starters scored in double figures, led by Shemar Wilson with a game-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. The Mavericks shot 47.7 percent (31-of-65) on the day and outrebounded Utah Tech 46-32, which included 17 boards for DaJuan Gordon, who also added 15 points and a game-high six assists to his final stat line. 
 
Utah Tech continues its homestand next Thursday night with an in-state showdown vs. Southern Utah. Tip-off inside the Burns Arena is slated for 7 p.m.