RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team was defeated, 93-63, by the McNeese Cowboys in a Southland Conference (SLC) game Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Junior guard
Trey Miller led UTRGV (12-8, 4-5 SLC) with 19 points and dished out three assists. Graduate student guard
DK Thorn added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Senior forward
Kwo Agwa had a team-high six rebounds with eight points.
McNeese (15-5, 9-0 SLC) saw six student-athletes reach double-digit points.
Quadir Copeland scored a game-high 21 points with eight assists and three steals.
Christian Shumate and
Joe Charles both tabbed double-doubles as Shumate scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and Charles scored 11 points with 10 rebounds.
The teams swapped buckets early in the contest and UTRGV held a 9-6 lead after five minutes of play. Then, McNeese went on a 14-0 run and kept the Vaqueros scoreless for nearly six minutes to take control. The Cowboys led by as many as 19 in the first half, but Miller's motor and five late points from Thorn helped the Vaqueros get within 40-26 at halftime. Miller knocked down a pair of triples and Thorn added another in the final minute of the half.
It was raining threes in the opening minutes of the second half as the teams continued to battle. UTRGV and McNeese knocked down four consecutive threes as they alternated buckets in a one-minute span. The Vaqueros were shooting over 50% from the field in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Cowboys were knocking down shots, too, keeping them in the driver's seat.
UTRGV never stopped battling, but McNeese couldn't seem to miss a shot in the second half as it built an 81-51 lead. The Vaqueros responded with a 5-0 run helped by a three-pointer from freshman guard
Jaylen Washington after coming off the bench. The Cowboys finished the game with a dozen threes and shot 54% from the field to take the big victory.
The Vaqueros will be back in action Monday at 6:30 p.m. for a conference game against Nicholls. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy and photo policies, among others, details of which can be found
here. Fans will need to be mindful of the temporary changes to the Fieldhouse parking, details can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/Parking.
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