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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball team beat the University of North Dakota (UND) 70-56 on Wednesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse to lead the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to the inaugural WAC-Summit League Challenge Championship.
The WAC is 5-2 against the Summit League with two games left.
UTRGV (7-4) is now off to its best start since 2004-05, when the team also started 7-4.
UTRGV grabbed 21 steals, the third-highest single-game total in program history and most since Jan. 5, 1981, when the team grabbed a program record 24 steals against Texas Southern. UTRGV grabbed 18 steals in the first half, more than any WAC institution has had in a full game this season, as the previous WAC-high was 17 by CSU Bakersfield at San José State on Nov. 17.
UTRGV forced 30 turnovers, the team's highest total since forcing 30 at Texas State on Dec. 5, 2009.
Sophomore
Javon Levi led UTRGV with 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and a career-high six steals. Junior
Jordan Jackson scored 13 points with three rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocks. Senior
Terry Winn IIIs cored 12 points with four rebounds and three assists. Sophomore
Greg Bowie II scored 10 points with three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Junior
Lesley Varner II scored six points with seven rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Cortez Seales led UND (4-5) with 17 points with seven rebounds.
Kienen Walter scored 15 points with seven rebounds.
UND scored the first four points of the game before UTRGV went on a 24-7 run over the course of 10 minutes, during which time UTRGV forced 14 turnovers while recording 12 steals and going 7-for-13 from inside the arc and 7-for-8 from the foul line. The run was capped by a layup by freshman
Uche Dibiamaka to put UTRGV up 24-11 with 6:34 remaining in the first half.
UND pulled to within 26-17 less than two minutes later before a Bowie three sparked a 9-1 run to give UTRGV a 35-18 halftime lead.
UND climbed to within 39-27 in the opening minutes of the second half before three-pointers by Jackson and Levi sparked a 15-3 run to give UTRGV its largest lead of the game at 54-30 with 12:50 left.
UND chipped away over the next 10 minutes and got as close as nine at 61-52 before Jackson came up with a dunk and UTRGV went 7-for-9 from the line to close out the game.
UTRGV takes some time off for finals before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. against Texas State for Community Heroes Night. UTRGV Athletics want to thank police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical services, active duty military, veterans, nurses and doctors for their service by offering them free general admission. Accompanying guests of community heroes will receive specially priced $3 general admission tickets. Doors open at 6.
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