WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team opened the Greenbrier Tip-Off with an 86-76 victory over the Charleston Southern University Buccaneers on Friday at Greenbrier Resort.
The Vaqueros (2-2) will face the winner between VMI and Tennessee Tech on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. for the Greenbrier Tip-Off River Division Championship.
The Vaqueros got a game-high 24 points from senior
Hasan Abdul Hakim. Fifth year senior
K.T. Raimey added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Sophomore
Marshal Destremau scored 13 points with a team-high seven rebounds and graduate student
DK Thorn scored 12 points with four rebounds, four steals, and three assists.
The Buccaneers (1-3) were led by Daylen Berry, who scored 18 points and recorded five assists. Taje' Kelly finished with 16 points and eight rebounds and RJ Johnson scored 14 points with five assists.
The first half was tightly contested as it featured seven lead changes and no team having a lead by more than six points. Junior
Trey Miller gave the Vaqueros the lead for good with a layup in the closing seconds of the half as UTRGV took the 43-41 lead into halftime.
Thorn opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer and then later UTRGV extended their lead to 52-45 on a layup by Raimey. After the Buccaneers got within 54-49, the Vaqueros went on a 7-3 run that was capped by a Thorn three-point play to make it 61-52.
Charleston Southern got within 61-56 but UTRGV answered right back with an 8-0 run that featured a layup from Abdul Hakim, a layup from Miller, a jumper from Raimey, and a layup from Thorn to extend their lead to 69-56.
The Vaqueros took their biggest lead of the game at 75-61 after back-to-back layups from Destremau. The Buccaneers had one final answer as they put together a 14-3 run to get within 78-75 with 1:39 left to play but the Vaqueros six-straight points from Abdul Hakim down the stretch to put the game away.
Support UTRGV Men's Basketball |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
