ARLINGTON, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team dropped an 85-77 non-conference game Saturday to the UT Arlington (UTA) Mavericks at the College Park Center in the first road contest of the season.
Redshirt juniors
Jace Posey and
T'Johnn Brown both tabbed career highs with 27 and 16 points to lead UTRGV (2-2, 0-0 Southland Conference). Brown was electric playing in his home area, going 7-for-8 from the free throw line and dishing out four assists with two steals, one block, and two rebounds. Posey tabbed his first double-double with a career-high 11 rebounds while making bests of eight field goals and 11 free throws. He had a highlight-reel dunk in the second half to spark a strong second half that saw UTRGV outscore the Mavericks 53-40.
The Mavericks (4-1, 0-0 United Athletic Conference) were led by 25 points from
Noah Shelby, who went 8-for-11 from behind the arc.
Mier Panoam scored 16 with six rebounds while
Tristan Hankins added 13 points with seven assists.
The teams swapped baskets to start the contest, then an 8-0 run for UTA created the first separation at 16-9. Junior
Caden Bell ended the three-minute-plus scoring drought for the Vaqueros with a steal and a layup. Bell continued his strong play, recording another steal on the next Mavericks possession, but a trio of three-pointers extended the lead to 25-13 for UT Arlington.
The Vaqueros found themselves trailing by as many as 24 points late in the first half as the Mavericks continued to knock down shots from deep. Junior
Chris Uwayo created some late momentum for the visiting team, scoring five points in the final minute of the half with a steal and a three, but UT Arlington took a 45-24 lead into the locker room.
The Mavericks opened the second half with a 5-0 run to grow the gap to 26 points. Posey's dunk sparked five consecutive points from the redshirt junior and aided a 10-1 run for the Vaqueros to turn the tides. UTRGV showed good fight late, particularly defensively, shutting down the once red-hot Mavericks offense and cleaning up on the defensive boards when forcing missed shots.
UTRGV prevented UTA from making a shot from the field for two long stretches, first for five minutes, then for six, to get within 59-50. Wright tabbed a block and made some nice moves in the paint to spark the offense. Brown brought the juice off the bench, cashing in a steal by Pryor with a layup before swiping a steal of his own to help shrink the deficit to single digits. Brown scored six in a row for UTRGV to get within six, but a three-pointer from Shelby slowed down the momentum.
Brown hit a three of his own late to start a 5-0 run as UTRGV showed resiliency to close a second consecutive game, trimming UTA's lead to 72-67 with 2:54 on the clock. The Mavericks took care of business at the charity stripe to keep the Vaqueros at arm's length despite a late three from Bell and aggressive drives from Posey.
The Vaqueros return to the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Thursday for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff against College of Biblical Studies. Fans can purchase tickets at
UTRGVTickets.com. All tickets for UTRGV Athletics home events will use NFC scanning, therefore screenshots will not grant entry. Fans can save and access tickets for entry via Apple or Google Wallet or by logging into your account at
UTRGVTickets.com.
Fans are encouraged to visit
RallyTheValley.com for everything they need to know about attending home basketball games. If you're unable to attend, the game will be streamed on
ESPN+ domestically and
Southland International for international fans.
