Jan. 17, 2005
Box Score
At halftime of the UT - Pan American and UT - San Antonio men's basketball contest, fans were treated to the acrobatic-dunking skills of the nationally-known Extreme Team.
However - it was the play before and after the halftime performance that really had the Valley faithful on their feet as the Broncs (8-9) returned from a 16-day road trip to hand the Roadrunners (7-7) a 90-78 setback at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Monday (Jan. 17).
"It was good to get home," said head coach Robert Davenport. "This was a big game for us, a great win for us against a really good team that is going to make a lot of noise in the Southland Conference."
The Broncs, who improved to 8-1 at the UTPA Fieldhouse, started the game in exciting fashion as they used their run-and-gun three-point attack to quickly take a 9-3 lead with 17:31 left in the first period following a trey from senior Matt Berry (Tulsa, OK/Indiana State University). UTPA, who is averaging 9.1 three-pointers per game at home, converted on a season-high 13 treys with four players draining at least two in the game.
"The first couple of minutes really got the monkey off our back because we made a couple of shots and were able to continue that consistency throughout the game. I told our guys not to settle for jumpers so we attacked the lane, and if the outside was open then they kicked it back out for the clear shot. That's the best way," added Davenport.
The Broncs never trailed during the entire game and were able to build their lead to as many as 12 points in the first period, especially after Ray Castillo (San Antonio, TX/Temple College) drained his fourth three-pointer of the half to give UTPA a 38-26 lead with 2:31 remaining. At the half, UTPA held an 11-point advantage at 44-33.
In the second half, the Broncs continued their strong shooting performance and were able to take the lead to 15 points at 65-50 with 9:49 when senior Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) connected on his second trey of the evening. The UTPA point guard finished with 19 points and a career-high nine assists.
"Eric really played well tonight. He almost had a double-double with points and assists. We were able to shoot well, take care of the ball, win the battle on the boards and finish plays, and all of those were keys to our win," Davenport stated.
The Roadrunners cut the Broncs' lead down to nine points at 82-73 with 1:17 remaining following an Anthony Fuqua lay-in, but UTPA was never truly threatened during the second period. The Broncs captured their first home victory against UT - San Antonio in four tries with the 90-78 victory.
Senior Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Trinidad State College) collected his second double-double (points-rebounds) of the season, finishing with a career-high 24 points along with 11 rebounds. Castillo notched five treys in the game, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds, while Berry added 11 points and five assists.
Junior Derrick East (Binger, OK/Lookeba-Sickles H.S.) and senior Ryan Lange (Inwood, IA/Northeast Community College) each finished with eight points apiece. The Broncs have been hampered with injuries this season, and the end result was five players logging 30 or more minutes in the contest.
"I probably played those five guys more than I wanted to, but those were our best match-ups. Those guys really battled out there tonight, and they deserve that win," said Davenport.
The Roadrunners were led by Justin Harbert, who scored 24 points on 9-13 shooting. John Millsap added 19 points and Fuqua collected 14 points and five rebounds.
UTPA shot a season-best 48.6 percent (29-59) from the floor, including 44.8 percent (13-29) behind the three-point line. The Broncs also held a 40-34 advantage in the rebounding category over UTSA, who came into the contest ranked 25th in the nation in rebounding margin. UTPA also collected 17 assists compared to 11 for UTSA.
The Broncs will be back in action on Thursday (Jan. 20) at Alcorn State with game time slated for 7:30 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
