Feb. 25, 2006
Box Score
The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team never trailed in its final home game of the season against South Dakota State University until the final 4:04 in the contest.
Prior to the final media timeout of the game, SDSU's Ben Beran connected on a jumper in the paint to give the Jackrabbits their first lead of the game at 51-49 en route to securing a 57-53 victory at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Saturday (Feb. 25).
"Our team got tight in the second half," said head coach Robert Davenport. "Our effort was unbelievable today, but we got tight in our thinking during the last few minutes of the game. We did execute offensively or defensively, and our guys started to play not to lose instead of playing the game to win."
The Broncs never once relinquished their lead in the first half from the opening tip when Colin Lien (Waterloo, IA/Southwestern C.C.) took a pass inside from Larry Sheppard (Baton Rouge, LA/Iowa Western C.C.) and converted on the easy lay-in only 22 seconds into the contest.
During the first half, the Broncs built their biggest lead at seven points with 12:10 remaining in the frame when Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/James E. Taylor H.S.) converted on a three-pointer to give UTPA a 15-7 advantage. The Jackrabbits would come back to tie the contest at 17-17 following a Matt Cadwell jumper with 9:17 remaining in the first frame.
With the score tied at 19-19, the Broncs posted a 6-0 run highlighted by four points from junior Kano Edwards (Bridgeport, CT/Western Nebraska C.C.), including an ally-hoop dunk from freshman Alex Robinson (San Antonio, TX/Clark H.S.). UTPA would take a four-point lead at 29-25 into intermission.
"I was really pleased with the way that our guys played in the first half. We were able to shoot the ball extremely well, and we stuck to our game plan. Colin played great in the first half, and Kano also had a tremendous first half," added Davenport.
In the second half, the Broncs quickly increased their lead to nine points after Shankle converted on a pair of free throws to give UTPA a 37-28 lead with 15:06 left in the game. For the next eight minutes, the Jackrabbits would never get within five points of the Broncs' lead until Michael Loney converted on a pair of free throw attempts to cut the lead to four points at 47-43 with 7:01 left in the game.
In the final 7:01 of the contest, the Broncs lost their shooting touch as they were only able to connect on 2-11 shots from the field. In that span, the Jackrabbits were able to take advantage as they closed the game on a 14-6 scoring run.
The Broncs were able to take hold of the lead when Shankle stepped in front of a Beran pass and streak down the court for an uncontested lay-in to give UTPA a 53-52 lead with 1:15 left in the game. However - that lead would only last six seconds as Eric Heien connected on a three-pointer to give the Jackrabbits a two-point advantage at 55-53 with 1:09 left in the game.
The Broncs were unable to capitalize on their final three shots of the game, including a pair of shots behind the three-point arc as the Jackrabbits escaped the floor with a 57-53 triumph.
With the victory, South Dakota State improved its record to 8-18 on the season while the Broncs fell to 7-22 during the 2005-06 campaign with two games remaining on their schedule.
Beran finished with a double-double (points-rebounds) with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists and one steal in 40 minutes of action. Loney added 11 points, and Cadwell collected nine points, five assists and four rebounds in the game.
Lien finished with a team-high 16 points and five rebounds while Edwards posted 12 points and a career-high three blocked shots. Shankle collected 11 points, and Sheppard added eight assists, six rebounds, four points and three steals in 38 minutes of action.
The Broncs will be on the road for their final two games of the season with their next contest at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi on Monday (Feb. 27).
UTPA Sports Information
