Dec. 1, 2004

Box Score

To seek comfort and solace, travelers need to look no further than Motel 6, who uses the slogan, `We'll leave a light on for you.'

The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team has found their own place for comfort in the confides of the UTPA Fieldhouse where the Broncs constantly light up the scoreboard.

The Broncs picked up their second home victory of the season with an 82-53 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God on Wednesday (Dec. 1) and improved their record to 2-1 on the season.

UTPA jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead before the clock reached the 19:00 mark on back-to-back three-pointers from seniors Sergio Sanchez (San Antonio, TX/Temple College) and Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Trinidad State College). With the lead in tact, head coach Robert Davenport told the team to avoid all shots from the perimeter and attack the basket.

"It was by design to take out the threes unless the guy was completely open outside," said Davenport. "We have to attack the basket when a team is playing zone against us and not settle for jump shots. That is something that we will have to do against Sam Houston State on Saturday so I wanted our team to prepare for it tonight."

After a couple of costly turnovers, the Lions were able to gain an one-point advantage at the 13:38 mark when Josh Hawley drove the lane for an easy basket to up the score to 11-10. That would be the last time that SAGU would come close to the lead because Matt Berry (Tulsa, OK/Indiana State University) drained his first trey of the evening to give UTPA a 13-11 lead with 12:46 remaining.

During the course of the next three minutes, the Broncs went on a 13-3 run to up the score to 26-14 after a pair of free throws from Fagan, who scored 13 points and added seven rebounds. The Broncs were never contested during the remainder of the first half and cruised to a 38-19 lead at intermission.

"I was pleased with the effort tonight. We played hard, and our guys got after them right from the beginning. We held them to only 19 points in the first half, and it was our goal tonight to guard and go after them, which we did," said Davenport.

In the second half, the Broncs lead was safe as SAGU was never able to get within 14 points. UTPA lit up the scoreboard for the remainder of the half, building the lead to 20 points at the 6:53 mark after a pair of made free throws from freshman Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/James E. Taylor H.S.). Within the next two minutes, the lead would increase to 30 points with Sanchez and Shankle connecting on shots from behind the arc. The Broncs cruised through the remainder of the half to capture an 82-53 victory.

Sanchez led all scorers with 17 points on 5-10 shooting, including 3-6 from three-point land. Senior Alvaidas Gedminas (Plunge, Lithuania/Kirtland Community College) was a perfect 4-4 from the field and 6-8 from the charity stripe en route to a 14-point performance. In large part to the help of Gedminas, the Broncs also won the battle of the boards for the third straight game, holding a 38-26 advantage over the Lions.

"Alvaidas played well tonight. We have to get him into better position on defense, but those will be things that we will work on during practice over the next few days," added Davenport.

The Broncs also saw a couple of freshman get quality playing time during the game with Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) leading all newcomers with 10 points and three rebounds. Shankle also added six points.

"I thought that Zach and Dexter played terrific tonight. These are talented guys, and we knew that they were going to see some time during the season. This is the type of performance we need from these guys every night. Thomas Sanders also did some things well tonight," Davenport stated.

The Broncs' defense was able to force 27 turnovers on the night, which resulted in 28 points on the other end of the court. UTPA also held a 10-6 advantage in the steals' category.

The Lions were led by Cainan Drew, who had a team-high 13 points, while Matt Daniels added 12 points. Jacob Holmes added 10 points and a team-high eight boards.

UTPA will be back in action on Saturday (Dec. 1) against Sam Houston State at the UTPA Fieldhouse. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information