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EDINBURG – Down 14 with just over eight minutes remaining, the University of Texas-Pan American Broncs men's basketball team went on a furious rally to pull within one in the final seconds before ultimately falling to the Sam Houston State University Bearkats 77-73 on Friday at the UTPA Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of 1,257.
 
Down 57-43, senior Justin Leathers made a jumper, sophomore Shaquille Hines made a pair of free throws and junior Shaquille Boga nailed a jumper to bring the Broncs (0-1) within eight. The Broncs and Bearkats (1-0) mostly traded baskets and free throws over the next seven minutes, but the Broncs outscored the Bearkats 22-15 to pull within 72-71 on a pair of Leathers free throws with 19.3 seconds remaining. After Jabari Peters hit a pair of free throws, senior Hurley Johnson made a layup to again bring the Broncs within one with 7.1 seconds left. With 6.0 seconds left, Peters went back to the line, and after making the first shot, missed the second, but Kaheem Ransom came up with the offensive rebound and made two free throws with 1.5 seconds left to put the game on ice.
 
Four Broncs reached double-figures in scoring, led by Boga, who scored a career-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go with three rebounds and two steals. Leathers scored 12 points with six rebounds and one block. Johnson scored 12 points with three rebounds and one steal. Hines tied his career-high, scoring 10 points with a career-high seven rebounds.
 
Peters led all scorers with 24 points while going 13-for-18 from the foul line. Ransom scored 23 points while going 8-for-11 from the line. As a team, the Bearkats went 30-for-50 (.600) from the foul line while the Broncs went 19-for-29 (.655).
 
The Broncs led almost wire-to-wire in the first half, going up as many as eight at 12-4 on a three-pointer and a layup by freshman Alex Majewski. The Bearkats tied the game at 29-29 on a Ransom free throw with 43 seconds left.
 
The Bearkats took an immediate lead in the second half on a Michael Holyfield layup, but the Broncs came back to go up four at 37-33 on a Leathers jumper with 16:37 to go. The Bearkats responded with a 24-6 run over the next 8:19, going 8-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc, plus 5-for-7 from the line, and getting 12 points from Ransom, to take the 57-43 lead.
 
The Broncs are back in action on Monday at 7 p.m. when they host the University of Houston at the UTPA Fieldhouse. In honor of Veteran's Day, the Broncs are offering free tickets to all active and retired military personnel with a valid ID or a DD-214. All active and retired military personnel in attendance will be recognized during the game. Doors open at 6.
 
The Broncs are facing the Cougars in Edinburg for the first time since Dec. 5, 1987, and just the second time in program history.

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