EDINBURG, Texas - The University of Texas - Pan American men's basketball team will try to end their five game losing skid on Wednesday night when the Broncs play host to the Black Knights of the United States Military  Academy at West Point (Army) at the UTPA Fieldhouse. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 PM as the UTPA Athletic Department hosts "Military Appreciation Night" with free admission for all current and retired servicemen and women.

The Broncs (3-11) are coming off am 84-76 home loss to the Ramblers of Loyola University. Texas-Pan American held a one point halftime lead but dropped their first home contest in their last three tries.

Loyola's Geoff McCammon hit a three-pointer with 7:10 remaining until the intermission to give Loyola a 26-17 lead, at nine points their largest lead of the game. The Broncs then closed out the half on a 20-10 run, capped off by Arkwright's buzzer beating heave from 35 feet away to give UTPA a 37-36 halftime advantage. UTPA shot an impressive 60% from the field in the first half.

Perry Perry Petty scored 19 of his 29 points in the final 6:50 of regulation during that span to help spark a UTPA rally. Petty closed the gap to three points with his jumper from the left of the circle with 42 seconds remaining making the score 78-75.The Broncs would not get any closer as the Ramblers closed out the game on a 6-1 run to sneak out with the 84-76 victory. Petty's 29 points led all scorers, as he also added six assists and six rebounds. Arkwright chipped in with a season best 13 points tonight. Ruben Cabrera added nine points and six boards while Enique Mason hauled in a career high seven boards and four blocked shots. Aaron Urbanus tallied a season best six assists as he chipped in with eight points.

The Broncs are led by Petty's 16.7 points per game. Petty also leads the Broncs in assists (2.9) and steals (1.9) and is second on the club in rebounding at 5.0 per contest. Aaron Urbanus is the only other Bronc averaging double figures at 12.2 points per game. Urbanus also leads the club in three-point field goal percentage (40.3%) and in three-pointers made (2.1). The three-guard starting line-up of Petty, Urbanus and Brandon Provost each average 5.1 three-point attempts per game. Matt Mierzycki leads the team in rebounding at 5.1 per game. UTPA is averaging 68.6 points per game and they shoot 34% from behind the three-point line this season.

Army (6-6) is finishing up a month long, seven-game stretch of games away from home this week with tonight's game at UTPA and Friday's game at Fairfield. The Black Knights haven't played back at West Point since December 1st and have gone 2-3 in the first five games of the trip.

Army is coming off a nail-biting 88-86 win at Brown University on December 21st. Army trailed by as many as 12 in the second half and were down by five with four minutes to go before pulling out the win. Senior G Mitch McDonald scored the game-tying and go-ahead baskets in the final minutes. Senior F Jeremy Hence led the Black Knights with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Army enters this week's games ranked second in the Patriot League with a 71.8 points-per-game scoring average. The Black Knights tied the Academy record for three-point percentage in a game with at least 20 attempts when they went 12-for-20 from long range at Brown. Army is averaging a league-high 9.8 triples per game, and pace the conference with a 41.4 three-point shooting percentage.

This is the first ever meeting between the two schools. The Broncs have never faced Army or Navy. The Broncs are 8-9 all-time against the US Air Force Academy. Army and UTPA share one mutual opponent. The Black Knights defeated the Highlanders of NJIT 63-60 on November 18th in Newark. NJIT and UTPA will face off twice this season as members of the Great West Conference.