HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team picked up their third straight win by defeat the Houston Christian University (HCU) Huskies 58-51 on Saturday at Sharp Gym.
The Vaqueros (9-11, 5-6 SLC) had three in double-figure scoring with graduate student
Marvin McGhee III leading the way with 17 points and six rebounds. Junior
Koree Cotton added 16 points with three assists, two blocks, and two steals. Junior
Filip Brankovic scored 12 points while sophomore
Jaylen Washington dished out six assists with four points and four steals.
The Vaqueros finished the game with 22 assists compared to just 11 turnovers. Its UTRGV's sixth game this season with 20 or more assists in a game.
The Huskies (7-13, 3-8 SLC) got 14 points from
Demarco Bethea as he added 10 rebounds for the double-double.
D'Aund Samuels added 12 points with five rebounds while
Demari Williams and
Ryan Bartley added eight points each.
The Huskies grabbed control early as they opened the game with a 9-2 run, but the Vaqueros took advantage of open lanes in the paint with three-straight layups and then it was a three-pointer from Brankovic that capped a 9-0 giving them the 11-9 lead.
UTRGV then used the three-ball to open their lead as three-pointers from Cotton and McGhee III made it 19-13 with 11:24 left to play in the half. Agwa found his space in the paint as he scored six straight points for the Vaqueros giving them their biggest lead of the half at 29-18.
McGhee III knocked down a three-pointer to put a cap on the scoring for UTRGV in the first half, but it was sandwiched by a couple of three-pointers from HCU's Bartley as the Vaqueros took the 31-24 lead into halftime.
The Huskies made things close in the opening minutes of the second half with a 6-2 run that made it 33-30 but the Vaqueros answered with a 10-2 that was started by a layup from Cotton and ended on a three-pointer by graduate student
Zae Blake that made it 43-32.
HCU got three straight layups from Bethea that got them within 43-38 but that would be as close as they would get with the Vaqueros knocking back-to-back three-pointers from McGhee III and Cotton to take the lead back to 11 at 49-38 with 12:10 left to play.
Later, McGhee III converted a pair of free throws and then converted a big layup to make it 57-42. Then with under five minutes to play, Brankovic knocked down a three-pointer, Cotton found space in the paint for a layup, and then Gomez made a layup to give UTRGV their biggest lead of the night at 68-45 to seal the victory.
The Vaqueros head to Corpus Christi to face the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Hilliard Center, as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union.
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