RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team fell to the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks 89-87 as part of the UTRGV South Padre Island Battle on the Beach on Saturday at the South Padre Island Convention Centre.
 
Junior Justin Johnson led the Vaqueros (2-2) with a career-high 35 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first-career double-double. Junior LaQuan Butler scored 16 points with four rebounds. Graduate student Mike Adewunmi scored 11 points with 11 rebounds for his first double-double. Graduate student Marek Nelson scored 10 points with four rebounds and two steals. Junior Ricky "Doc" Nelson scored 10 points with eight assists. 
 
Jalen Cone led the Lumberjacks (3-2) with 25 points and seven assists. Nik Mains scored 20 points with eight rebounds. Carson Towt scored 15 points with seven rebounds. Mason Stark scored 13 points with four rebounds.
 
Johnson hit a layup and a three-pointer as the Vaqueros jumped out to a 5-2 lead. The Lumberjacks score the next seven points as part of a 14-5 run to take a 16-10 advantage.
 
Johnson responded by bookending an 11-0 run with layups to put the Vaqueros up 21-16. The Vaqueros led by five again at 31-26 on a Butler three, 34-29 on a Johnson three, and 40-35 on a layup by freshman RayQuan Taylor.
 
The Vaqueros pushed their lead to six when a Butler jumper made the score 42-36 late in the half, but the Lumberjacks responded with a 7-0 run to regain the lead. Johnson answered with a pair of a layups to fuel a 6-2 run to put the Vaqueros up 48-45 at halftime.
 
A Doc Nelson jumper put the Vaqueros up 50-45 at the start of the second half, but the game tightened up from there, with neither team leading by more than a possession until a Stark four-point play but the Lumberjacks up 76-72 with 7:05 remaining.
 
Johnson responded with back-to-back layups as the Vaqueros went on a 7-2 run to take a 79-78 lead.
 
The Lumberjacks pushed their lead back to four on a Cone jumper with 1:30 left before a Doc Nelson layup and a Johnson jumper tied the game at 87 with 26 seconds to go.
 
Cone hit two free throws with 5.88 seconds remaining to give the Lumberjacks the victory.
 
UTRGV visits Northern Arizona on Monday at 7 p.m. in game that will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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