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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball team became just the 28^th team in NCAA history to come back from a deficit of 24 or more points to beat Lamar 77-75 on Friday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
While setting a new program record for largest comeback, UTRGV (4-3) became the first team to come back from a 24 or more-point deficit since Feb. 22, when Drexel came back from down 34 to beat Delaware. UTRGV is the second WAC institution to pull off such a large comeback, as Utah Valley rallied back from down 27 to win at Denver on Nov. 23, 2016.
 
Junior Lesley Varner II led UTRGV with a career-high tying 21 points, eight rebounds, a season-high four assists, one block and three steals. Sophomore Javon Levi scored a career-high 19 points with four assists. Junior Jordan Jackson scored a season-high 12 points with a career-high tying six rebounds, a career-high five assists and a season-high three steals. Graduate student Tyson Smith hit three three-pointers for 11 points, three rebounds and a season-high three assists.
 
Nick Garth led Lamar (3-3) with 17 points. Jordan Hunter scored 16 points with seven assists and three steals. Josh Nzeakor scored 15 points with 12 rebounds. T.J. Atwood finished with 13 points.
 
Lamar jumped out to a 28-4 lead over the first nine minutes. Smith responded with a three-pointer as UTRGV started to chip away.
 
UTRGV still trailed by 20 at 36-16 with 4:17 remaining in the first half when two three-pointers and a layup by Smith helped UTRGV score nine-straight points as part of an 18-6 run to close out the half with UTRGV down 42-34.
 
Lamar pushed its lead to 13 twice in the second half, including 52-39 with 17:02 remaining. Lamar led by 12 at 60-48 at the 11:44 mark when three-point plays by Levi and Jackson helped UTRGV scored eight-straight points to pull within four.
 
UTRGV closed to within two with 6:36 left when a Varner layup made the score 66-64. UTRGV tied the game for the first time on a Varner layup at the 4:55 mark that made the score 68-68.
 
Then, with Lamar up 70-68, Levi hit back-to-back layups to give UTRGV a 72-70 lead with 3:02 to go.
 
Lamar took the lead once more, going up 73-72 31 seconds later, but Levi, Varner and senior Terry Winn III combined to make five free throws to give UTRGV the lead for good.
 
UTRGV hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, on Monday at 7 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive #BeatCorpus t-shirts. Doors open at 6.

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