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LAREDO – Elijah Jordan knocked down a three-pointer with 14 seconds left in overtime to lift the University of Texas of the Permian Basin men's basketball team to a 76-75 win over Texas A&M International in Heartland Conference action. The victory marks the second-straight game in which the Falcons have come out on top in overtime.
Jordan scored just five points on the night and hit his only three-pointer of the game when it counted most. As a team UTPB hit just five from downtown, but made 33 free throws including five in the overtime period.
The Falcons led 33-18 at the half, taking advantage of poor shooting by the Dustdevils, which shot just 21.7 percent from the field. A&M International lived and died by the three-pointer, hitting 9-of-33 from long range.
The Falcons not only dominated the first half, but held a 12-point lead with 3:14 to go in regulation after
Jamal Holden knocked down a jumper for two of his team-high 18 points. A&M International cut the deficit to six (53-47) with 1:34 to go when Luis Gomez hit a pair of free throws. Over the next 26 seconds, UTPB went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and led 59-48.
Trailing 60-50 with less than a minute to play, A&M International went on to out-score the Falcons 15-5 the rest of the way to tie the game at 65 at the end of regulation. It was a tale of two halves as the Dustdevils out-scored UTPB 47-32 in the second half and held the Falcons to just 33.3 percent shooting from the field in the period.
Louis Crane hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds to play to give UTPB a 65-62 lead, but Ryan McLucas hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Like in regulation, the Falcons held the lead for most of the period until a jumper by Evan Matteson with 1:13 to go gave the Dustdevils a 74-73 lead – their first of the game. They would keep the lead until Jordan's heroics proved to be the game-winner for the Falcons.
With the win, UTPB improved to 7-6 overall and 1-0 in Heartland Conference play. They will head to San Antonio to take on St. Mary's at 4:30 p.m.
