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CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team opened the Islander Invitational with a 76-70 loss to the North Dakota State University Bison on Friday at the American Bank Center.
 
Graduate student Jordan Jackson led the Vaqueros (1-2) with a career-high 29 points on a career-high 12-of-20 shooting, four rebounds and one steal. Senior Lesley Varner II scored 11 points with five rebounds and three assists. Junior Javon Levi scored nine points with eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals.
 
Jared Samuelson led NDSU (3-1) with 15 points. Vinnie Shahid finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Tyson Ward scored 11 points with nine rebounds and four assists.
 
Jackson opened the game with a dunk and Varner made a jumper as the Vaqueros held a 4-0 lead over the first three and a half minutes.
 
The Bison outscored the Vaqueros 22-13 over the next eight minutes to take a 22-17 lead. The Vaqueros responded with a 10-2 run, capped by another Jackson dunk to go up 27-24. The Bison scored the next five points to regain the lead before a Jackson jumper and a three by junior Chris Freeman put the Vaqueros up 32-29 in the final minute of the first half.
 
The Bison opened the second half with four three-pointers over the first six minutes to build a 48-41 lead. The Bison led by as much as 11 at 60-49 with 8:53 remaining.
 
The Vaqueros got as close as four at 71-67 on a Varner layup at the 1:53 mark.
 
UTRGV continues the tournament on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Stony Brook.

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