RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team dropped a close Southland Conference game, 82-75, to Nicholls Colonels Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Graduate student guard
DK Thorn led UTRGV (12-9, 4-6 SLC) with 23 points and recorded five rebounds and four assists. Senior forward
Kwo Agwa claimed 12 rebounds, 14 points, and a season-high five blocks. Redshirt junior guard
Howie Fleming Jr. scored 15 points for the Vaqueros.
Nicholls (12-9, 6-4 SLC) was led by senior guard
Robert Brown III who scored 24 points.
Byron Ireland scored 21 points and
Jaylen Searles contributed five rebounds and 16 points.
The Vaqueros started off strong taking an early lead with a pair of three-pointers from Fleming and Thorn. Nicholls answered with a momentum changing three-pointer and dunk to give the Colonels a 12-10 lead. The game continued to go back-and-forth throughout the rest of the half, exchanging small scoring runs.
Both team's defenses slowed down the opposing offenses in a physical first half. Nicholls forced a three-minute scoring drought to get back on top. UTRGV responded well with three-point shooting from Thorn, fifth-year guard
K.T. Raimey, and freshmen guard
Jaylen Washington and strong free throw shooting to hold the 34-30 lead at half.
Thorn continued his sharp shooting with a pair of three-pointers which helped the Vaqueros lead by 10 early in the second half. Nicholls answered and went on two six-point runs to take the lead. UTRGV continued to have success with three-point shooting to tie the game at 63-63 with under eight minutes to play.
Both teams exchanged baskets keeping things close as the game went on. In a physical contest Nicholls was able to gain the edge to lead by five points with 2:50 remaining. The Vaqueros took advantage of the Colonels' physical defense sending them to the free throw line often and made 94.4% of their free throws to keep the game close. They continued to go back and forth throughout the game which saw multiple ties and lead changes. In the last minute, Nicholls scored six unanswered points to secure the win.
The Vaqueros will be back in action Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of a South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, doubleheader against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. 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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