Dec. 4, 2004

Box Score

For The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team, there were many individual highlights showcased in its 83-72 victory over Sam Houston State on Saturday (Dec. 4) at the UTPA Fieldhouse, but it was the total team effort that stole the spotlight.

"I couldn't be happier," said head coach Robert Davenport. "We played hard and with a lot of intensity right from the beginning. We realized that we had to turn it up defensively, and that's what we stressed all week in practice. Tonight, it paid off."

The Broncs fell behind early in the contest and showed problems containing the Bearkats' top two players in forward Joe Thompson and center Eddy Fobbs. Before the first media timeout in the first half, the SHSU duo played Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside as Thompson drained a big three-pointer followed by a dunk inside for Fobbs. The pair combined for five of the team's first seven points.

On the other end of the court, the Bearkats were determined to stifle senior Sergio Sanchez with all costs, but their plan backfired as SHSU fouled the UTPA point guard three times from behind the three-point line. As a result, Sanchez drained eight of nine free throws and set a career-high with 13 free throws made in 14 attempts. For the game, the senior captain finished with a game-high 28 points along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"You can say it every game that Sergio played like Sergio. He came up big in the beginning when they were smothering him on defense and ended up fouling him three times when he was shooting. That's big for him to make eight of nine free throws," added Davenport.

UTPA was able to increase its lead to nine points at the 2:27 mark when Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Trinidad State College) drained a three from the corner to give the Broncs a 38-29 advantage. Fagan recorded 14 points, including 5-6 from the charity stripe. Before the end of the half, Sam Houston State was able to cut the deficit to six points at 43-37 when Thompson, who finished with 14 points, drained a jumper from the foul line.

The Broncs came out in the second half and proceeded to hurt themselves from the beginning by committing two consecutive turnovers, which resulted in four points for the Bearkats and cut the lead to 43-41.

After a three-pointer from Sanchez, the Broncs were able to get their lead back to five points at 46-41 with 18:11 remaining in the half. With the lead at six points, senior Ray Castillo (San Antonio, TX/Temple College) stepped up with his biggest game of the season as he proceeded to drain the first of his three second half three-pointers at the 14:41 mark to give the Broncs a 52-44 lead. Castillo finished the game with 17 points, including a game-high five three-pointers.

"Ray really played well tonight. He shot the ball well, and probably had his best defensive performance of his career," Davenport commented.

A few minutes later, the Bearkats cut the lead down to three points at 62-59 on a dunk from Fobbs, who finished with a team-high 21 points, at the 9:43 mark. With the lead within striking distance, the Bearkats proceeded to trade shot-for-shot with the Broncs until a lay-up by freshman Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) with 4:04 remaining would spark a 12-2 run for UTPA. With 1:30 remaining in the game, the Broncs were able to up their lead to 10 points at 77-67 after a pair of Sanchez free throws.

UTPA was able to convert on six of seven free throw attempts during the last two minutes of the game to secure the victory.

The Broncs put together their best free throw shooting performance of the season, draining 21 of 25 attempts in the contest compared to 15-25 for the Bearkats. UTPA also held a 10-5 advantage in three-points made as well as 41-39 in the rebounding category.

Junior Derrick East (Binger, OK/Lookeba-Sickles H.S.) added eight points and nine rebounds while senior center Alvaidas Gedminas (Plunge, Lithuania/Kirtland C.C.) recorded nine rebounds.

Ryan Bright scored 19 points, on 7-11 shooting, for the Bearkats.

With the victory, the Broncs improved their record to 3-1 while Sam Houston State fell to 2-5 on the season.

UTPA will be back in action on Tuesday (Dec. 7) against Lamar University on the road with game time slated for 7:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information