Jan. 28, 2004

EDINBURG, TX-The second home game of 2004 was the charm for The University of Texas-Pan American's men's basketball team. The Broncs scored 23 consecutive points during a span of nine minutes and 46 seconds late in the first half and early in second, stormed from behind to take a 19-point lead, and went on to an 81-60 victory over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne at the UTPA Fieldhouse Wednesday evening. The win snapped a four-game losing streak.

Trailing, 33-29 with 3:47 remaining in the first half, Texas-Pan American turned a pair of baskets by junior center Alvaidas Gedminas (Plunge, Lithuania/Laivite HS/Kirtland CC) and a three-pointer by junior guard Sergio Sanchez (San Antonio, TX/South San Antonio HS/Temple College) into their first lead since they had an 8-7 advantage with 13:16 left in the first half.

The second half was more of the same. A pair of layups by senior forward Allen Holcomb (Chicago, IL/Steinmetz HS/Allen County CC) that sandwiched six consecutive free throws to make it 46-33 with 17:00 remaining. Another layup by Holcomb, two free throws by Sanchez and a layup by junior guard Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya HS) capped the run with 15:021 to play.

The Broncs continued to increase their advantage, outscoring the Mastodons, 18-9 during the next five and a half minutes to build a 26-point advantage, 68-42 with 9:30 remaining.

Sakalys led the Broncs with 17 points and five assists. Junior guard Ray Castillo (San Antonio, TX/South San Antonio, TX/Temple College) had 15 points, making five of six shots from three-point range. Sanchez added 13 points, while Holcomb scored 10 points and added seven rebounds. Junior forward Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Storm King HS/Trinidad State) grabbed eight rebounds as UTPA outrebounded IPFW, 46-35.

David Simon of the Mastodons led all scorers with 27 points and 12 rebounds, making 12 of 21 shots from the field. Beau Bauer added 11 for IPFW.

"We really executed well, especially during that stretch," said UTPA Head Coach Bob Hoffman. "Everything goes better when you start making shots. It helps your offense, and it even helps your defense. Chris made some great passes to Andrius for layups, and then we found Ray open on the wing and he made his shots. Eric and Matt played great defense, and Alvaidas helped us by came in and helped out on their big guy. He's a great player. I'm really excited for our guys, they worked hard and deserved this win."

The Broncs improved to 6-13 with their victory, while the Mastodons fell to 3-16. Texas-Pan American will return to action when they host Alcorn State Monday evening.