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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball team fell to the University of Oklahoma (OU) 91-76 on Friday at Bert Ogden Arena in front of a crowd of 5,071.
 
Junior Lesley Varner II led UTRGV (1-1) with a career-high tying 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting and four rebounds. Graduate student Tyson Smith finished with 14 points on a career-high tying 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. Senior Terry Winn III scored 13 points with six rebounds, a career-high five assists and two steals. Sophomore Javon Levi scored 12 points with four rebounds, six assists and a career-high tying four steals. 
 
Christian James led Oklahoma (1-0) with 29 points. Aaron Calixte scored 15 points. Brady Manek recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
 
OU hit five early threes to jump out to a 23-11 lead. Jumpers by Winn and sophomore Greg Bowie II, however, sparked an 11-3 run to bring UTRGV within 26-24 with 8:11 remaining in the first half. Varner and junior Jordan Jackson each had two baskets during the run as well.
 
OU responded with a 10-2 run to go up 36-26. OU extended the lead to 43-31 on a James three at the halftime buzzer and then scored the first seven points of the second half to go up 50-31.
 
Varner and Winn answered with jumpers to bring UTRGV within 15.
 
UTRGV then pulled within 13 at 55-42 on a Winn layup, but OU responded with a 12-2 run to push the game out of reach.
 
UTRGV is back in action on Monday at 7 p.m. at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union.

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