Nov. 10, 2007
Year two of the Tom Schuberth era officially kicked off Saturday (Nov. 10) as the University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team jumped out to an 8-0 run in the first three minutes and held off the University of Texas-Permian Basin 77-65 in their season opener at the Field House.
"We're a little disappointed with the way we shot the ball, but a sign of a good team is when you don't shoot the ball well and you find ways to win," second-year head men's basketball coach Tom Schuberth said.
Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) scored a career high and led all scorers with 22 points to go along with five rebounds. The senior forward shot 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
"He had a great game, obviously he played 38 minutes," Schuberth said. "He made all his free throws, he had five rebounds and I was pleased. He's only going to get better and he's done a great job of being the leader and helping out the young guys."
Three other Broncs scored in double figures including senior shooting guard Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) who followed Trader's performance with 18 points and seven rebounds. Burrell shot 6-of-15 from the field including five three pointers on a 5-of-11 effort.
Paul Stoll (Lansing, MI/Lansing C.C.) kept the Green and Orange offense in constant motion against the Falcons' 3-2 zone. Stoll scored 10 points and five assists on 2-of-9 shooting and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc, but did most his damage from the charity stripe where he went 5-of-7.
Emmanuel Jones (Washington, DC/Riverside City College) and Nathan Hawkins (San Antonio, TX/Moberly Area C.C.) helped out Trader in the paint as the newcomer forward tandem chipped in with 12 and seven points respectively.
Jones remained effective all night long shooting 4-of-5 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line doing most of his work in the second half.
UTPA capped off a 16-8 run when Burrell connected on his fourth three pointer of the half as time ran out to give the Green and Orange a 40-28 halftime lead.
The Green and Orange shot 40.6 percent from the field in the first half, but cooled off in the second shooting 11-of-32--37.5 percent for the game. The Falcons who started slow in the first half shot 41.9 percent in the second half as they attempted to even things out.
Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX/ James E. Taylor H.S.) had a quiet night with six points on 2-of-4 from three point land, but had four rebounds, three assists and sacrificed his body on two charges. His second three pushed the Bronc lead to 17 points at 64-47 with 7:43 left to play in the second half.
Jones' put back dunk off a Trader miss in the paint, not only brought `oohs' and `aahs' from Bronc faithful, it also gave the Broncs a 74-61 lead with 1:13 left to play.
Justin Bailey and Robert Harris scored 15 each for the Falcons.
The men will be back in action at Sam Williams court on Tuesday (Nov. 13) when they welcome another Heartland Conference-foe, Texas A&M-International.
Danny Puente (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) dished out a career best eight assists while Shankle and Burrell each scored 10 last year when the Broncs cruised past the Dustdevils 85-57 on Jan. 15.
UTPA leads the al-time series against Texas A&M-International 4-0. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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