Dec. 17, 2007
The UTPA men's basketball team suffered its second straight defeat as the Broncs were handed an 64-53 setback to Missouri State in the first round of the Las Vegas Tournament, on Monday (Dec.17).
The Broncs fell to 6-7 on the season while the Bears improved to 6-3 on the 2007-08 campaign.
From the opening tip the Bears were able to connect on the first three possessions and take a 6-0 lead with 18:07 left to go in the first half. Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) put the Broncs on the board after a jumper in the paint, making the score 6-2.
Missouri State continued to punish the Broncs offensively as they extended their lead to 12 points at the 12:46 mark. UTPA was able to cut the lead to five after a jumper by Trader but that was as close as the Broncs would get as the Bears would head into the locker rooms with a 26-19 advantage.
Trader finished with a team-high 13 points and 10 rebounds while Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) chipped in with 11 points in 36 minutes of action.
The Broncs finished the first half shooting 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from the field compared to the Bears 42.9 (9-of-21) from the floor.
In the second half, the Broncs regained their shooting confidence as they were able to battle to within two points at 48-46 with 4:34 remaining in the game following a three-pointer by point guard Nick Weiermiller (Elmira, NY/Elmira Free Academy).
The Bears proved to be to much in the end as they connected on several free throws in the final minutes of the game securing a perfect 5-0 record at home and a 64-53 first round victory in the Las Vegas Tournament.
Weiermiler collected a career-high 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting, 1-of-1 from behind the arc and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in 25 minutes of play.
Four Bears finished in double-digit scoring, including Deven Mitchell who finished with a game-high 14 points on 3-of-5 from the field and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe to go along with five rebounds.
For the game, the Broncs finished shooting 37.2 percent from the floor, 26.7 percent from three-point range and 89.5 from the free throw line.
The Broncs will next play Alabama in the second game of the Las Vegas Tournament on Wednesday (Dec.19) in Tuscaloosa, AL with game time slated for 7 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
