Jan. 5, 2005
Box Score
The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team knew that this six-game road swing wasn't going to be easy, but it's hard to imagine that it would've turned out to be this difficult.
On Wednesday (Jan. 5), the Broncs suffered their fourth straight road loss and evened their record at 7-7 with an 84-51 loss to Air Force at the Clune Arena in USAFA, CO.
Similar to the past few games, the Broncs were able to keep the game relatively close through the first 14 minutes, especially after senior Ryan Lange (Inwood, IA/Northeast Community College) connected on a lay-in to cut the Air Force lead to one-point at 22-21 with 6:50 remaining. However - the Falcons would respond with a 12-3 run over the next three minutes capped off by a lay-up by Antoine Hood to give Air Force a 35-23 advantage with 3:11 remaining.
Before the end of the first half, Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/James E. Taylor High School) would drain a jumper to cut the Falcons' lead down to eight points at 37-29 going into the locker room. The Broncs were dead-on in their shooting, connecting on 62.5 percent (10-16) of their shots in that period, but continued to hurt themselves with turnovers as Air Force converted 10 UTPA miscues into 15 unanswered points. The Falcons only committed one turnover in the half and finished with four in the game while UTPA gave up 19 turnovers, which Air Force turned into 30 points.
In the second half, the Broncs were never able to cut into the Falcons' lead as Air Force jumped out to a 24-4 run to open the frame. Following a Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Trinidad State College) lay-up at the 17:49 mark, the Broncs were held scoreless over the next four and a half minutes until Matt Berry (Tulsa, OK/Indiana State University) drained a three-pointer with 12:19 remaining to cut the lead to 25 points at 61-36. Berry was the only Bronc to finish in double figures with 10 points.
Air Force, who scored only 35 points in its last meeting with the Broncs, continued to pile on the points throughout the remainder of the half and easily cruised to an 84-51 victory. With the victory, the Falcons upped their record to 9-5 and extended their home-winning streak to 19 games.
Alvaidas Gedminas (Plunge, Lithuania/Kirtland Community College) finished with nine points for the Broncs while Derrick East (Binger, OK/Lookeba-Sickles High School) added eight points and a team-high five rebounds.
The Falcons had four players reach double-digits with Dan Nwaelele leading the way with 17 points while Nick Welch and Matt McCraw collected 14 and 13 points, respectively. Caleb Buchanan came off the bench to score 10 points and grab a team-high seven rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
The Broncs will be back in action on Saturday (Jan. 8) at Northern Colorado with game time set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
