Feb. 21, 2005

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Utah Valley State senior Ronnie Price scored a game-high 29 points and added five rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals as he led the Wolverines to a 75-71 victory over The University of Texas-Pan American at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Monday (Feb. 21).

Price, who entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring, broke the hearts of the Valley faithful when he drained a three-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in the game to give Utah Valley State a 69-66 advantage.

Following a Matt Berry (Tulsa, OK/Indiana State University) lay-in to cut the deficit to one-point at 69-68 with 24 seconds remaining, the Wolverines would receive six trips to the foul line where they converted on all attempts.

Senior Sergio Sanchez (San Antonio, TX/Temple College) was able to connect on UTPA's first three-pointer in the game with two seconds remaining to get the Broncs to within two points at 73-71, but it proved to be a little too late. Utah Valley State would escape and hand the Broncs their third home loss of the season with the 75-71 victory.

"I thought we played a very good first half," said head coach Robert Davenport. "In the second half, we had a lot of breakdowns whether it was a missed shot or giving up an offensive rebound. Price hit some key shots late in the game, and it's hard to win games like that when you have that many breakdowns."

The Broncs held a huge advantage over their opponents at the free throw line, sending six players to the charity stripe on four or more occasions. In the end, UTPA shot 26-38 from the free throw line compared to 16-18 from the Wolverines.

Senior Chris Fagan (Bronx, NY/Trinidad State College) led the Broncs with 15 points on 4-10 shooting, including 7-11 from the charity stripe, in the final home appearance of his career. He also finished with seven rebounds in 33 minutes of action.

Senior Eric Montalvo (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) nearly missed a double-double (points-rebounds) with a 14-point, eight-rebound performance while Derrick East (Binger, OK/Lookeba-Sickles H.S.) added 12 points and notched eight rebounds. Sanchez collected 11 points and made UTPA's lone three-pointer in the contest. It was the second time this season that the Wolverines had held the Broncs to a single trey in the game.

With the loss, UTPA fell to 12-14, including a final 11-3 mark at home, while Utah Valley State improved its record to 12-13 on the season.

The Broncs will wrap up the 2004-05 season with a pair of games on the road. The Broncs will first travel to Fort Wayne, IN, for a contest against IPFW on Sunday (Feb. 27) with tip-off set for 6:00 p.m. before concluding the season at New Mexico State University.

UTPA Sports Information