RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Down one with 3.3 seconds remaining, junior
Ahren Freeman hit a buzzer-beating laying up to send The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team to a 78-77 victory over the Western Illinois Leathernecks in front of a raucous crowd of 4,937 on Monday at Bert Ogden Arena.
In total, 6,674 fans watched the doubleheader, which included No. 4 Texas vs. Northern Arizona 30 minutes after the UTRGV game, the largest crowd to ever witness basketball in the Rio Grande Valley. The previous record was 6,300 when the Houston Rockets played the Boston Celtics at Payne Arena on Oct. 7, 2009.
The Vaqueros (3-2) led 64-56 with 5:15 remaining before the Leathernecks (2-3) started chipping away, pulling within 71-68 three and a half minutes later.
Sophomore
Sherman Brashear hit a 3 at the shot clock buzzer to the Vaqueros' lead to six with 1:12 remaining, but the Leathernecks answered with a 7-2 run to pull within 76-75 and had the ball with 18.2 seconds remaining.
Jesiah West dunked with 6.4 seconds left to give the Leathernecks a 77-76 lead. West was fouled but missed the free throw as thousands of fans screamed. Freeman grabbed the rebound and fed Johnston, who raced the ball across half court and called timeout with 3.3 seconds remaining.
Johnston inbounded to Freeman at the right wing. Freeman then turned left and blew by his defender to hit a game-winning layup at the buzzer as thousands of fans cheered.
Senior
Justin Johnson led the Vaqueros with a game-high 34 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including 2-of-4 from behind the arc, plus 10-of-14 from the line, three assists and two steals. Graduate student
Dima Zdor scored a career-high 18 points with four rebounds. Sophomore
Will Johnston scored 10 points with a career-high 11 assists for his first double-double.
Alec Rosner led the Leathernecks with 23 points and five assists.
Quinlan Bennett scored 15 points with eight rebounds and three assists. West scored 13 points with six rebounds and three blocks.
Trenton Massner scored 12 points with three assists and two steals.
Johnson scored eight points in the first four minutes to help the Vaqueros jump out to a 10-4 lead. The Leathernecks responded with an 11-2 run to go up 15-12. Then, with the score 19-16, sophomore
Derrius Ward hit a free throw and Johnston made a layup to tie the game before Brashear made a pair of free throws to give the Vaqueros a 21-19 lead.
The Leathernecks regained the lead at 22-21 and 24-23 before back-to-back Johnson buckets put the Vaqueros up 27-24.
The Vaqueros extended their lead to 32-28 on a Johnson 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.
The Leathernecks pulled within one early in the second half before a pair of Johnston free throws, a Zdor 3-point play and a Johnson layup put the Vaqueros up 43-35.
Two baskets later, with the score 43-39, Zdor layups bookended a 9-2 run to extend the Vaqueros' lead to 52-41.
The Leathernecks scored the next eight points as part of an 11-2 run to pull within 54-52 before a dunk by Freeman and a Johnson layup pushed the Vaqueros' lead to six.
Then, with the score 58-55, a Johnson layup sparked a 6-1 run to put the Vaqueros up 64-56.
UTRGV hosts Northern Arizona on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Bert Ogden Arena. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
BertOgdenArena.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at
BertOgdenArena.com. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International.
Support UTRGV Men's Basketball |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
