Feb. 3, 2007
The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball remained undefeated on Sam Williams Court with a 72-60 victory over United Basketball League-foe New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3) at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
With the victory, the Broncs improved their record to 12-10 on the season, including 10-0 at home, and have doubled their win-total from a season ago when they captured six triumphs during the 2005-06 campaign.
It wasn't one of the best performances by the Broncs during the 2006-07 season, but UTPA managed to find a way to attain, keep and secure the lead over the Highlanders on Saturday afternoon.
"I really don't believe that we would've won this game had we not been playing at home," said head men's basketball coach Tom Schuberth. "I didn't think that we were focused this afternoon, and we played very selfishly, which is something that we haven't done all season."
The Highlanders, who fell to 3-18 during the 2006-07 campaign, gave the Broncs everything they had during the contest as they took a two-point lead at 15-13 with 10:35 remaining in the first half following a three-pointer from Clayton Barker.
The Broncs responded and recaptured the lead with 9:56 remaining in the first frame following a pair of free throws from UTPA point guard Paul Stoll (Lansing, MI/Lansing C.C.). Within the next five minutes, the Broncs increased the lead from two points to 10 points at 28-18 after junior Zach Trader (LaPorte, TX/LaPorte H.S.) connected on a jumper in the paint.
The Broncs were able to maintain a double-digit lead over the Highlanders during the final minutes of the first frame and took an 11-point advantage into the locker rooms with 35-23 on the scoreboard.
In the second half, The Broncs jumped out of the gate right from the get-go in the second half after Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) connected on one of his six three-pointers in the contest to give UTPA a 15-point advantage at 38-23 with 18:47 remaining in the game.
Burrell finished with a game-high 25 points in the contest on 7-of-9 shooting, including 6-of-8 from behind the three-point arc, to go along with seven rebounds and three steals.
"Brian hit very timely shots, and I think that he rescued us on several occasions today. He wasn't ready and focused early in the game, but as the game went on then he really came up strong for us," added Schuberth.
The Highlanders refused to go away quietly in the game as they were able to cut the Broncs' lead down to seven points on three occasions and even had the game at five points at 56-51 with 4:30 remaining in the contest after Barker connected on a pair of free throws.
In front of their home crowd, the Broncs were able to rebuild their lead and held a secured the victory with a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe during the final four minutes of the game.
Trader finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting in 31 minutes of action off of the bench while Stoll collected a near double-double (points-assists) with 13 points, including 10-of-11 from the charity stripe, to go along with eight assists and zero turnovers.
Julius Allgood (Marion, AL/Southern Union State C.C.) added 11 points, three rebounds and one assist for the Broncs in 17 minutes of action.
Michael Manning finished with a team-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting while Marc Milbourne-Swan and Kraig Peters collected 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Broncs will be back in action on Saturday (Feb. 10) with a game against Utah Valley State beginning at 2:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
