box score

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin men's basketball team trailed by as many as 14 with less than four minutes to play and eventually cut the deficit to four but would come no closer as St. Edward's escaped with an 81-78 win over the Falcons.

The win snapped a five-game losing skid for the Hilltoppers, who claimed their first Heartland Conference win of the season. The Falcons on the other hand, fell to 9-10 overall and 3-4 in league play.

Jamal Holden put in a team-high 22 points while Erik Martin added 11. The Falcons had a tough time with the one-two punch of Remy Boswell and Shimeek Johnson, who combined for 53 points.

UTPB struggled from the field nearly the entire first half, hitting just 8-of-26 shots from the field for 30.8 percent. Already trailing 16-11 with 13:02 to go in the first, the Falcons would not score again until nearly six minutes later when Ke'Andre Derrick made a layup. The Hilltoppers took full advantage of the drought as they led 22-13 with 7:54 to go. They would extend that lead to 33-17 after a dunk by Boswell, who led all scorers with 29 points. St. Edward's would go into the locker room with a 34-22 lead.

The Hilltoppers kept a double-digit lead for most of the second half until a layup by Martin pulled the Falcons within nine (65-56) with 1:38 to go. A three-pointer by Holden with 1:31 to play made it 65-59 but the Falcons wouldn't come any closer until Louis Crane hit his only three-pointer on the day with 25 seconds left to make it 76-72. UTPB would pull within four on two more occasions but never came any closer.

UTPB will be back in action on Thursday when it hosts St. Mary's at 8 p.m. in the Falcon Dome.