RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team clinched a spot in the Southland Conference (SLC) Tournament with a 70-65 win over the Lamar Cardinals on Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. 
 
The SLC Tournament will run from March 8-11 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Fans can purchase tickets for the tournament at Southland.org/Tickets.
 
With the win, the Vaqueros (15-12, 11-7 SLC) set a program record with their 11^th conference win of the season and now have won nine out of their last 10. Junior Filip Brankovic led all scorers with 19 points, four rebounds, two blocks, and two assists. Junior Koree Cotton finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Jaylen Washington scored six points with a career-high tying eight assists. 
 
The Cardinals (12-15, 7-11 SLC) had four players in double-figures with Rob Lee Jr. leading the way with 14 points. Eian Lowe scored 13 points with six rebounds. Braden East added 12 points, and nine rebounds and Cody Pennebaker recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. 
 
The first half went back-and-forth as both teams alternated buckets to start the game, but it was the Vaqueros who used three-pointers from Brankovic and Cotton to grab the 8-4 lead. The Cardinals answered with a 9-0 run that started and ended with Pennebaker jumpers as they took the 13-8 lead.
 
Later, the Vaqueros got back-to-back three-pointers McGhee III and graduate student Kwo Agwa to regain the lead at 15-14 with 11:34 left to play in the half. The Vaqueros used the free throw line down the stretch, including a three-point play from freshman Julien Gomez to hold the lead at 32-30 at the end of the half. 
 
The second half was more of the same as the game finished with seven ties and 10 lead changes. The Cardinals tied the game at 32-32 on a jumper from Holifield to open the second half and then the Vaqueros got it right back with a layup from Brankovic. 
 
The Cardinals then got back-to-back buckets from Pennebaker and Janko Bulajic to take the lead at 39-36 and it wasn't until the Vaqueros got a three-pointer from junior Always Wright and a couple of free throws from sophomore Dane Christensen at the 12:31 mark that they took the 46-45 lead. 
 
UTRGV got a couple of more three-pointers from juniors Jalen Ricks and Marshal Destremau to take their biggest lead of the night at 53-48 with 9:49 left to play. The Cardinals got within 54-52 after a dunk from East but UTRGV pushed their lead back to 61-56 after a jumper from Cotton and a three-pointer from Brankovic. 
 
The Cardinals got within one point a couple of times down the stretch but a big three-pointer from Brankovic with 22 seconds left to play put the game away.
 
The Vaqueros will be back in action on Saturday when they visit the Southeastern Lions at 3:30 p.m. at the University Center.

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