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Defense has been the key to The University of Texas of the Permian Basin men's basketball team's success, but the Falcons made the most of their chances in a 62-52 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith.  UTPB knocked down 23-of-26 free throws and its final 16 points over a two minute stretch came from the charity stripe. 
 
The Falcons have now won five-straight games and find themselves at 5-5 in Heartland Conference play.  The league however, is one where no one  is safe as three teams have five conference wins currently seeded fourth through sixth – all looking to make the conference tournament at the end of the season.  Four teams enter the post-season event and currently Texas A&M International is the league-leader at 8-2 followed by Newman and St. Mary's both of which sport 7-3 marks.  Dallas Baptist is a half game up on UTPB at 5-4, while Arkansas-Fort Smith and UTPB are at 5-5. 
 
Nearly half of the Falcons' points came from the free throw line with Madison Turner going a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe and finished with a game-high 18 points.  Jalen Jarrett was nearly as good, hitting seven of the eight free throws he took and added five assists. 
 
UTPB trailed just once in the game when the Lions took an early 3-0 lead, but a layup by Branden Harrison and a three-pointer by Louis Crane gave the Falcons a 5-3 lead they would not lose the rest of the way. 
 
Wayne Jackson hit a 15-footer with 10:18 to play to bring the Lions within one (37-36), but they would go nearly eight minutes before they would score another point and by that time the Falcons built a 12-point advantage.
 
UTPB couldn't miss from the line, hitting 16-straight in the final 2:34 to keep the Lions at bay.  The Falcons will step out of conference play to host Arlington Bible at 7 p.m. on Monday.