KINGSVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (15-10, 8-8 LSC) went to battle against RV The University of Texas of the Permian Basin (21-5, 12-4 LSC), but lost 87-81 that took essentially three halves on Saturday afternoon in the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court. 

Saturday was senior day as Thomas Diaz, Marcus Frazier, and Duan Wright played their final game in front of the Javelina faithful.

Texas A&M-Kingsville fought to the very end when they had plenty of reasons to be counted out. After a big 13-0 run in the early stages of the game, the Hogs battled back and only trailed by four at the half. When on the wrong side of a 14-6 run late in the second half, the Blue and Gold continued to fight to literally the last second when Caelan Neal knocked down a wide open triple to force overtime. TAMUK battled in the first overtime as well as in the second when Frazier hit the floater as time expired to force yet another overtime. Unfortunately, the Hogs did not have enough in the third OT and failed to make a field goal in the thrilling matchup. 

Will West led the Hogs in scoring after a career-high 19 points off of five made three-pointers, which is another career-high. West also added three assists, a steal and a block to his statline. Neal followed with 12 points with his last bucket being the first buzzer beater to send us to overtime. Neal fouled out in the first OT. Derrick Byrd rounded out the double-digit scorers with ten points and tied with Wright for four assists. Wright also paced the team with six steals. Diaz and Trey Sumpter each scored seven points in the loss, while Robert Stevenson chipped in six points. Stevenson set a new career-high with 11 rebounds and tallied a team-best four blocks.  

TEAM LEADERS

Texas A&M-Kingsville
Points: Will West, 19
Rebounds: Robert Stevenson,11
Assists: Two players with four assists
Steals: Duan Wright, 6
Blocks: Duan Wright, 4

UT Permian Basin
Points: Daeshon Francis, 22
Rebounds: Sammy Allen, 15
Assists: Johnnie Lacy, 6
Steals: King Zeldric, 3
Blocks: King

Zeldric, 1

1st Half
It was a very physical half from the start as the Hogs found themselves down 6-5 at the 15:35 mark. Following the media timeout, the Falcons went on a massive 13-0 run before Diaz hit a triple to end the drought. UT Permian Basin stayed aggressive however, and with 7:39 on the clock, they led Kingsville 23-11. The Javelinas closed the gap 23-17 after a three-pointer from Christian Bambrook and later trimmed the lead to as low as four after West dropped his second three of the half with 69 ticks remaining. UTPB went into intermission leading 29-25.

Diaz led the team with seven points followed by West's six points off of two triples. Overall it was a sloppy first half with both teams combining for 27 turnovers. TAMUK shot 29.2% from the field while UTPB only shot 32%.

2nd Half
TAMUK's three ball was falling in the second half and three consecutive treys from Frazier, Neal and Sumpter put the Hogs ahead 47-41 with 8:58 left in the half. However, the Falcons stayed fighting and went on a 14-6 run to capture a 55-53 lead with 2:42 left to play. With seconds remaining and UTPB ahead 60-57, the Hogs sprinted down the court off of a missed free throw and Byrd fed Neal in the corner to hit the three as time expired to force overtime! 

Overtime
In the first OT period, both teams scored their first two points at the charity stripe and was tied at 64 with 2:36 remaining. In the later stages of the period, Byrd got the roll on a layup and completed the three-point play with 35 seconds to take a 67-64 lead. McPherson answered with his own and-one conversion, which tied the game at 67 to force a second overtime.

West hit his fifth trey of the game to begin the second overtime, but a 6-1 run by the Falcons gave the visitors a 73-71 lead with 2:56 on the clock. After a pair of free throws from Sumpter, West layup gave the Hogs the lead 75-74, but McPherson was there again to respond with a three, putting UTPB ahead 77-75 under one minute. With a chance to seal the game Johnnie Lacy missed both free throws for UTPB with eight seconds left, setting up another Javelina buzzer beater, this time from the senior Frazier. 

TAMUK unfortunately ran out of gas in the third overtime. They were outscored 10-4 and went 0-of-11 in the final five minutes. UT Permian Basin jumped out to a quick 5-0 run to open the period and had good clock management to fight off the relentless Javs with a final score of 87-81.  

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• This was the first overtime game for the Javelinas this season.
• The Javelinas seven-game home winning streak has been snapped and are still winless when opponents score 80 or more points (0-4). 
• The Hogs had a season-high of 32 forced turnovers as well as 25 made free throws and 34 free throw attempts.
• The Falcons 55 free throw attempts is a season high of any opponent this season.
• The Hogs shot 1-of-10 from three-point range in the overtime periods  
• In the first half, TAMUK outscored UTPB 10-2 from the bench and 14-6 off of turnovers. By the end of the game, those margins grew 47-9 and 33-14, respectively.
• UTPB starters scored 78 of the teams 87 points. The other nine were all scored by Zeldric King.
• Duan Wright was essential defensively but shot 0-of-11 from the floor.
• Will West shot a .600 clip this afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Texas A&M-Kingsville 81, UT Permian Basin 87
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (15-10, 8-8 LSC), UT Permian Basin (21-5, 12-4 LSC)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville is 1-6 against UT Permian Basin
Location: The SPEC Kingsville, Texas
Time of Game: 2 p.m.

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