Jan. 9, 2007
Box Score
After spending the past few weeks on the road, the UTPA men's basketball team found comfort back on its home floor in front of the fans of the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday (Jan. 9) evening.
The Broncs quickly erased a three-game losing skid as UTPA dominated the University of Texas-Permian Basin from the opening tip en route to securing a 91-51 victory over the Falcons to remain undefeated on their home court.
"This was a very good win for our team because it was a total team effort," said head coach Tom Schuberth. "We were able to work on a lot of things with our guys tonight, and they responded very well. There wasn't one selfish player on the court tonight for us, and everybody helped us in some fashion whether it was on the offensive or defensive end."
With the Broncs up by a point at 14-13 with 9:55 remaining in the first half, UTPA proceeded to go on a 28-10 run throughout the remainder of the first half to secure a 42-23 lead heading into the locker rooms. The Broncs limited UTPB to four field goals throughout the final 9:55 of the first half and forced the Falcons to commit eight turnovers, which UTPA turned into 16 points.
In the second half, the Falcons were able to get within 14 points at 44-30 with 16:37 remaining in the second half following a pair of free throws from Anwar Morgan. However - UTPA had the answer for the slightest of runs by UTPB as the Broncs went on a 24-0 run to up their lead to 68-30 with 10:53 remaining in the game.
A balanced-offensive attack that was matched with an unselfish attitude by the Valley's squad aided the Broncs as they dished out 27 assists to go along with a 56.2 shooting percentage (41-of-73) for the contest.
The Broncs received scoring production from 12 of the 13 players donning the Green and Orange on Sam Williams Court with each player seeing over five minutes of action in the game. Each player that scored for the Broncs shot over 50.0 percent in the game, and UTPA had 10 players post six or more points in the contest.
"It's always a coach's dream to get everybody on your bench involved in the game, and tonight, we had that opportunity. I thought that our starters played extremely well, and our bench was able to give us a good lift when they were on the court. We always have a chance to win games when we play like we did tonight," added Schuberth.
Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) finished with a game-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes while Johnathan Chatman (Chicago, IL/Sheridan College) finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting with two assists and two steals.
Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/James E. Taylor H.S.) finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, and Colin Lien (Waterloo, IA/Southeastern C.C.) notched nine points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and one steal in 14 minutes of court time.
The Broncs out-scored the Falcons by a 24-4 margin in points in the paint; 41-18 mark in points off of turnovers; 25-4 edge in second chance points; 14-2 advantage in fast break points and 47-32 mark in bench points.
UTPA upped its record to 9-8 on the season while the University of Texas-Permian Basin fell to 3-10 during the 2006-07 campaign.
The Broncs will be back in action on Monday (Jan. 15) against Texas A&M-International at the UTPA Fieldhouse with game time set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
