WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team won the Greenbrier Tip-Off River Division Championship after defeating the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 83-58 on Saturday at Greenbrier Resort.
It's the first tournament win for the Vaqueros (3-2) since the 2016-17 season when they won the Emerald Coast Classic Pool B Championship. Senior
Hasan Abdul Hakim and graduate student
DK Thorn were named to the Greenbrier Tip-Off All-Tournament Team with Abdul Hakim being named Tournament MVP.
The Vaqueros (3-2) had 10 different player score in the game with Abdul Hakim leading the way with 15 points and five rebounds. Thorn finished with 11 points, four assists, and two steals. Junior
Trey Miller scored 12 points with four assists. Redshirt junior
Howie Fleming Jr. added 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting with nine rebounds and three assists.
The Golden Eagles (3-2) were held to their fewest points of the season as they got 13 points and three rebounds from Jaylon Johnson. Rodney Johnson Jr. added 12 points with three rebounds and Matthew Sells chipped in with nine points.
The Golden Eagles knocked down a pair of threes to jump out to the early lead, but the Vaqueros offense got rolling after a layup from sophomore
Tommy Gankhuyag. After a three-pointer from Tennessee Tech's Johnson Jr., fifth year senior
K.T. Raimey gave the Vaqueros the lead with a three of his own and then UTRGV got layup from Thorn and a jumper from Fleming Jr. to push their lead to 14-11 and the Vaqueros didn't look back.
The Vaqueros took their biggest lead of the first on back-to-back three-pointers from Fleming Jr. and senior
Cliff Davistaking the 41-31 lead into halftime.
UTRGV pushed their lead to 47-33 early in the second half on a Gankhuyag layup and with 9:20 left in the game, Raimey knocked down another three making it 63-49. The Vaqueros extended their lead to 73-53 on a pair of free throws from Miller to put the game out of reach for good.
The Vaqueros will be back in action on Monday when they visit Wisconsin, who is receiving votes in the national polls, at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center. Monday's game will air on the Big Ten Network.
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