Jan. 6, 2007

Box Score

Fighting its way back in the second half, the University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team dropped its third straight game against a Conference-USA foe on the road as they fell to the University of Tulsa by a score of 72-64 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK on Saturday (Jan. 6).

The setback dropped the Broncs to 8-8 on the season while the Golden Hurricane improved to 10-3.

UTPA got off to slow starts in its previous two road losses, and even though they went down fighting on both occasions, the first half deficit was too much to overcome. The same cannot be said this time as the Broncs capitalized on a pair of early Golden Hurricane miscues.

UTPA refused to let the same happen as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, going into the first media timeout of the contest with 15:52 remaining in the first half. Tulsa didn't lie down on its home court, going on a run of its own as they outscored the Broncs 12-5 over the next 4:35 to tie the game 12-12 at the 11:17 mark on a Ray Reese jumper in the paint.

The Golden Hurricane continued to apply pressure on both ends of the court, going on a 15-2 run over a 5:20 stretch until a media timeout put a halt to Tulsa's hot streak with 7:44 left to play in the opening half.

The Broncs were down by as much as 13 points two times in the opening 20 minutes of play with the second coming as they headed into intermission with the score 39-26. UTPA shot 37.0 percent on 10-of-27 shooting while Tulsa shot 46.7 percent on 14-of-30 from the field.

Both teams displayed their deep threat ability with the Broncs going 4-of-9 while the Golden Hurricane went 5-of-9 from behind the arc. Tulsa held a slight rebound advantage over UTPA, out-rebounding the Broncs 19-17, but capitalized on 10 Bronc miscues to its six.

Coming into the final 20 minutes, the game picked up right where it left off as Tulsa took its largest lead of 16 after going on an 11-8 run with 15:56 remaining in the game to make the score 50-34.

But as they have done in their previous two road setbacks, the Broncs fought back. With Paul Stoll (Lansing, MI/Lansing C.C.) leading the way, UTPA went on a 13-2 to close the lead to eight points with the score 50-42 courtesy of a pair of Stoll steals and three point shots with 13:12 left in the game.

With plenty of fight in them, the Broncs closed the lead to seven points as Colin Lien (Waterloo, IA/Southeastern C.C.) hit a pair of free throws after being fouled under the Golden Hurricane basket to make the score 62-59 with 4:58 left in regulation.

The Broncs battled their way back to five points, making it a two-possession game when Lien scored a jumper in the paint to make the score 69-64 with 00:26 remaining in the game. The Golden Hurricanes went on to go 3-of-4 down the stretch and extinguished the flames on the would-be red-hot comeback of the Broncs.

Stoll led the Broncs in the final 20 minutes, scoring 17 second-half points on his way to a game-high 23 points in 35 minutes quarterbacking the squad on the hardwood. In a career-night, the UTPA newcomer put the fate of the team on his shoulders and shot 8-of-11 from the field, including 7-of-10 from behind the arc while adding a three assists and three steals on the game.

Lien scored 13 points on his way to his third double-double (points-rebounds) of the season while adding 11 rebounds on the night in 31 minutes on the court. The seven-foot senior went 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from the charity stripe.

Leading the way for Tulsa was former teammate of Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) at Paris Junior College in Rod Earls, who recorded 22 points on 5-of-12 shooting with a near-flawless 11-of-12 from the foul line in 28 minutes of action.

For the game, the Broncs shot 37.3 percent on 22-of-59 from the field while the Golden Hurricane shot 44.0 percent on 22-of-50 shooting. Tulsa out-rebounded the team 38-32 while UTPA won the turnover battle 16-15.

The Broncs return home to the UTPA Fieldhouse where they are 6-0 on the season in hopes of snapping their three-game skid when they face the University of Texas-Permian Basin on Tuesday (Jan. 9) with tip set for 7:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information