THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team outscored the Arkansas State Red Wolves 46-24 over the final 21:34 of game time before ultimately falling 75-58 on Saturday to close out the Acrisure Invitational at Acrisure Arena.
 
Freshman J.J. Howard led the Vaqueros (2-5) with a career-high 16 points. Senior Daylen Williams scored 11 points with six rebounds and three steals. Junior Hasan Abdul-Hakim scored 11 points with four rebounds and two steals. Junior Elijah Elliott finished with seven points, five rebounds and two steals.
 
Freddy Hicks Jr. led the Red Wolves (2-4) with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Izaiyah Nelson scored 12 points with nine rebounds and two blocks. Dyondre Dominguez scored 11 points with 15 rebounds and four assists.
 
The Vaqueros led twice in the opening minutes, going up 2-0 on an Elliott jumper and 4-3 on a Howard layup. The Red Wolves followed with a 15-1 run to go up 18-5.
 
The Vaqueros were still within 13 at 23-10 on a pair of Elliott free throws midway through the half, but the Red Wolves scored the next 15 points as part of a 28-2 run to go up 51-12.
 
Abdul-Hakim made two layups and a free throw to end the first half and the Vaqueros came out hot to start the second half, extending the run to 19-8 to pull within 59-31 on an Abdul-Hakim layup with 13:11 remaining.
 
The Red Wolves pushed their lead to 64-33 before the Vaqueros went on a 19-3 run, capped by a layup by sophomore Isaiah Barganier, to make the score 67-52.
 
The Vaqueros were again within 15 at 73-58 in the final minute on a jumper by freshman C.J. Booker, who finished with his first five points to go with a career-high three assists and a career-high two steals.
 
UTRGV returns home on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. for the Western Athletic Conference opener against Grand Canyon at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The first 300 current UTRGV students in attendance get free food. Alumni of UTRGV and legacy institutions UTPA and UTB can get discounted admission by clicking on the link sent to their email addresses. Alumni who didn't receive an email can reach out to tickets@utrgv.edu.
 
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. 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 GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. The party starts in Schlotzsky's Vaquero Village at 5 p.m.
 
Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on ESPN+ or internationally via WAC International.

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