LAKE CHARLES, La. – The No. 3 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament after defeating the No. 6 Nicholls Colonels 86-68 on Monday at Townsley Law Arena.
The Vaqueros (19-13) advance to face the No. 2 McNeese Cowboys on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. with the winner earning a spot in the SLC Tournament championship game.
UTRGV had all five starters in double-figures with junior
Filip Brankovic leading all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting while adding five rebounds. Junior
Koree Cotton scored 18 points behind a 4-of-6 performance from three-point line with four rebounds and five assists. Sophomore
Jaylen Washington scored 15 points with five assists and freshman
Julien Gomez added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
UTRGV shot 58% (31-52) from the floor and 50% (12-24) from beyond the three-point line while finishing with 20 assists. It's the 13
th time this season the Vaqueros make 10 or more three-pointers in a game and the 10
th time finishing with 20 ore more assists.
The Colonels (13-19) got 17 points from
Trae English with
Jalin Rice adding 13 points.
Christian Winborne added 11 points with
Sincere Malone and
Jalik Dunkley adding eight points each.
The Colonels struck first with a couple of free throws, but the Vaqueros answered with a 12-0 kick started by a Gomez three-pointer and capped by back-to-back buckets by Brankovic for the 12-2 lead.
Nicholls countered with back-to-back three pointers from Hamoda and Winborne to get within 12-8. Later UTRGV got back-to-back three-pointers from McGhee III and Cotton to get their lead to 21-10 but the Colonels answered with a big run of their own.
Winborne knocked down a couple of free throws to start a Nicholls 12-0 run and capped by a Sanders to Dunk that gave Nicholls the 22-21 lead. Brankovic put the Vaqueros on his back and scored seven-straight points giving the Vaqueros the 28-24 lead with just under seven minutes in the half.
After a jumper from Rice, the Vaqueros closed out the half on a 16-6 run to take the 44-32 lead into halftime.
The Vaqueros came out of the locker room and put the pressure on the Colonels as they got back-to-back three-pointers from Cotton and McGhee III to make it 50-36.
Later, the Vaqueros scored nine-straight points behind a layup from Brankovic, another three-pointer from Winters, a layup from Washington, and a layup from Brankovic to give them their biggest lead of the night at 67-42.
The Colonels answered right back with three-straight buckets of their own, but the Vaqueros maintained their control in the pain with three-straight layups to keep to the Colonels at bay the rest of the way.
Support UTRGV Men's Basketball |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
