Feb. 11, 2004

Edinburg Texas -If you were not at the UTPA Fieldhouse tonight, then you missed one heck of a basketball game. Texas-Pan American took a roller-coaster win, 70-67 over Arkansas State for its fifth consecutive victory. The victory moved UTPA to 10-13, its fifth straight double-digit win season.

Texas-Pan American held the lead for almost the entire first half, getting it as high as six points on five different occasions. The last six point lead was 20-14 with 5:47 to go. The Indians came back on a 9-2 run capped by a three-pointer by Tevoris Thompson at the 1:47 mark. That gave Arkansas State its first lead, 23-22 with 1:47 to go. Sergio Sanchez (Jr./San Antonio, Texas/Temple College) came back with a triple with 46 seconds left. UTPA went in at the half trailing 26-25.

Arkansas State opened the second half with a 6-2 run that pushed their lead to five, 32-27 with 17:14 to go in the game. It was UTPA's turn to ride the roller coaster as they outscored the Indians 15-3 to lead by seven with 11:55 left. ASU chipped away and finally tied the game on a jumper by Dewarick Spencer with 7:12 to go, 49-49. The lead went back and forth until Matt Berry (Jr./Tulsa, Okla./Indiana State) hit a free throw with 1:19 left to make it 62-61. The Broncs never lost the lead after that although ASU cut it to one point, twice. Spencer's three-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer to give the Broncs the victory.

For UTPA, Andrius Sakalys (SR./Vilnius, Lithuania/Eastern Oklahoma State) had 16 points, Sanchez had 16 points, five assists and four steals, Berry had 10 points and Allen Holcomb (Sr./Chicago, Ill./Allen County HS) had eight points, 14 rebounds and blocked three shots. Sanchez was 6-of-6 from the line and now has made 33 consecutive free throws.

For Arkansas State (14-8), Spencer had 22 points, eight rebounds and two steals, Thompson had 17 points and Kim Adams had 15 rebounds.

"I'm just so excited for the team about our victory tonight," said Head Coach Bob Hoffman. "Arkansas State is a really good team and this was a great win for us. We are playing extremely well as of late and I give a lot of credit to my assistant coaches. They have done a great job of challenging the team to be tougher mentally. In turn, the guys have just stepped it up a notch or two."

Texas-Pan American is back in action, Saturday, February 14 taking on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the UTPA Fieldhouse. The game is the Broncs Homecoming Game and there will be activities throughout the day. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.