RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The effort and resilience of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team was on full display Tuesday as it battled to the final second against the Pac-12's Texas State Bobcats in front of 2,328 fans at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in a tight 72-65 loss.
UTRGV (2-1, 0-0 Southland Conference) erased a 14-point second half deficit and was within five points of the lead several times in the final minute of the game, but the comeback effort fell just short. Redshirt junior
Jace Posey paced the Vaqueros for the second consecutive game, scoring 15 points with five rebounds. Senior
B.B. Knight added 10 points with two steals and senior
Always Wright scored nine going 3-for-3 from behind the arc for a career high. Senior
Devon Pryor contributed a career-high five assists with five points and four rebounds. The crowd of 2,328 was the largest for UTRGV since Feb. 1, 2025, when the Vaqueros drew 2,734 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Dimp Pernell led Texas State (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12) with 26 points.
Paul Djobet added 15 points with six rebounds.
DJ Hall and
Robert Fields both tabbed seven rebounds while scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Hall dished out a team-high four assists and Fields had three steals.
The fast and physical tone of the game was set from the opening possession as sophomore
Bobby Crawford Jr. snatched a steal to stop the Bobcats on first touch. Crawford tabbed an offensive rebound and hit a tough layup through traffic for the first UTRGV points, then added a floater to answer Texas State scores. Wright gave UTRGV its first lead at 7-4 with a three-pointer to fire up the packed house.
Texas State made a pair of three-pointers and finished an and-1 play to go on an 11-0 run. Wright brought the spark again as Pryor dribbled deep into the shot clock to draw double coverage, creating an open look for Wright in the corner for a quick-trigger three to end the scoreless drought and make it 15-10, Texas State. The Vaqueros used that flip of momentum to tighten up defensively, holding the Bobcats scoreless for nearly three minutes as senior
Terrell Wright tabbed a steal and a block. But UTRGV was also cold from the field for a three-minute stretch as both teams played relentless defense and Texas State maintained its lead.
The Bobcats leaned on their size to have an early edge on the boards, using the extra chances to open up an 11-point advantage. UTRGV's defense forced another three-minute scoring drought and closed the gap as junior
Caden Bell used his speed to maneuver through traffic for a layup, then Knight drilled a three and battled for a layup to get the Vaqueros within 23-19. The crowd got rowdy as the first half got more and more competitive as the game rolled on.
Always Wright hit his career-high third triple of the half, launching a deep, contested shot, then assisted a sweet floater from Crawford to trim Texas State's lead to 28-26.
Terrell Wright swatted a block then slammed home an alley-oop dunk on an inbound play feed from Bell to have UTRGV within 30-28 at halftime.
Though the Vaqueros went into the locker room with momentum, it was Texas State that came out with a hot start in the second half. The Bobcats started the half 5-for-5 from behind the arc to balloon the lead to 47-33. UTRGV didn't let the double-digit deficit change its identity – the Vaqueros remembered the halftime message of toughness plays and answered to cut the lead in half at 53-47 with under seven minutes on the clock. Bell exemplified the fight, notching a layup, a corner three and a key rebound that led to a hard-earned layup for redshirt junior
Darius Carr despite behind the smallest on the court to help the Vaqueros chip away.
Texas State almost had a dagger as Fields swiped a steal and cashed it in with an emphatic dunk to put the Bobcats back on top by double digits at 53-41. But Pryor immediately responded with a three-pointer that rolled in, out, and back into the hoop to fire up the Vaqueros. The home team suffocated the Bobcats with a full-court press and suddenly found itself within five points of the lead after Knight knocked down a three from the corner with 6:01 on the clock.
The Bobcats made the most of some late trips to the charity stripe to extend the lead to 59-50 as their defense slowed down the Vaqueros. Texas State's length interrupted the Vaqueros as they tried to force the ball inside and the Bobcats went up by 14 after a three by Pernell.
The Vaqueros didn't go down quietly. Pryor snagged a steal and fed it up to Posey, who raced to the basket and dunked it to get the crowd on its feet. Then, UTRGV's full court pressure resulted in a steal by redshirt junior
T'Johnn Brown, who quickly made a layup to get within 66-57 with 57.5 on the clock. Posey recorded another steal as the Vaqueros stayed aggressive defensively and drove hard to the hoop, drawing contact and making both free throws to trim the deficit to seven points with 32.5 on the clock.
Brown then swatted his third steal, tying his career high, which led to an easy layup by Pryor to make it 66-61. Knight drove down a dunk and Brown made a pair of free throws to twice get UTRGV within five points, but the Bobcats took care of business at the charity stripe between makes by the Vaqueros to hold on for the victory.
UTRGV will play its first road game of the season Saturday at 6 p.m. at UT Arlington. Fans unable to attend can watch domestically on ESPN+.
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