COMMERCE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team put together a late rally but came up short as they fell 77-69 to the East Texas A&M Lions on Saturday at The Field House.
The Vaqueros (6-10, 2-5 SLC) had five players in double-figures with junior
Filip Brankovic leading the way with 16 points and seven rebounds. Graduate student
Marvin McGhee III scored 14 points behind four three-pointers. Freshman
Julien Gomez scored 13 points and junior
Koree Cotton and sophomore
Jaylen Washington each scored 10 points.
The Lions (7-10, 2-5 SLC) also had five players in double-figures with
Ronnie Harrison leading all scorers with 18 points.
Gianni Hunt scored 13 points while
Noah Pagotto recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Damian Garcia added 12 points while
Tay Mosher scored 10 points.
The Vaqueros trailed by as many as 22 points with 13:27 left in the game after the Lions opened the second half with a 15-6 run. The Vaqueros answered with a 21-8 run to get within 68-62 with 3:58 as Gomez kick started the run with a three-pointer and added two more in that stretch and Brankovic scored six points of his 16 in the run to give life to the Vaqueros.
That would be as close as the Vaqueros would to play would get as Lions made six free throws and a three-pointer to close out the game.
The Vaqueros got the scoring started with early layups from Gomez and Brankovic, but the Lions would take the 8-7 lead after a three-pointer from Hunt and a layup from Harrison. After McGhee III hit his first three-pointer, that gave the lead back to the Vaqueros, the Lions went on a 10-0 to take the 19-11 lead.
A McGhee III three-pointer stopped the run, but the Lions answered with a 9-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 28-15. The Vaqueros got a couple of three-pointers from McGhee III and Cotton, but the Lions had an answer with three-pointers from Hunt and Garcia as they took the 42-33 lead into halftime.
The Vaqueros close out their road trip on Monday when they visit Northwestern State at 6:30 p.m. at Prather Coliseum.
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