RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team dropped the regular season finale to the Tarleton State University Texas 69-58 on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Senior Javon Levi led the Vaqueros (9-9, 2-5 WAC) with 19 points, a season-high eight rebounds, seven assists and one steal. Senior Anthony Bratton scored nine points with nine rebounds.
 
Montre' Gipson led the Texans (10-10, 5-7 WAC) with 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one steal. Konstantin Dotsenko scored 15 points. Freddy Hicks finished with 11 points.
 
Levi opened up the game with a three and added a jumper a few minutes later to give the Vaqueros a 7-5 lead.
 
A three by junior Marek Nelson broke a tie to put the Vaqueros up 10-7, but the Texans responded with an 11-2 run to take an 18-12 lead.
 
Then, with the score 22-16, sophomore Connor Raines hit a three to spark a 7-0 run to put the Vaqueros on top.
 
The Texans scored the next six points to regain the lead, but junior Uche Dibiamaka hit a jumper and then Levi nailed a three right before halftime to tie the game at 28. 
 
The game remained tight early in the second half. The Texans pushed their led to 40-33 at the 13:37 mark, but Levi responded with a jumper, a three and two free throws as part of a 9-0 run to give the Vaqueros a 42-40 lead.
 
The Texans responded by scoring the next 13 points to regain the lead.
 
Then, with the score 57-46, a Bratton layup and a Nelson dunk brought the Vaqueros to within seven. One basket later, sophomore Quinton Johnson II made a bucket to make the score 59-52, but that's as close as the Vaqueros got.

UTRGV opens the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the number six seed against number three seed New Mexico State on Thursday at 10 p.m. at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Fans in the United States can watch online via ESPN+. Fans anywhere else in the world can watch online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.

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