The University of Texas of the Permian Basin men's basketball team picked up its first win against a ranked opponent Saturday night, holding off Newman for a 74-64 victory.

Newman entered the game ranked 14th in the nation and sat atop the Heartland Conference with a 5-0 record in league play.

Neither team was able to break very far away on offense until the Falcons pulled up by four on a tip-in by Fabian Sebastian with 6:31 remaining in the first half. A quick 3-pointer 16 seconds later put the lead down to one, and the lead bounced back and forth until Xavier Martin pulled UTPB back ahead 10 seconds before halftime with a three to send the Falcons into halftime leading 29-27.

Rob Heyer had the hot hand for UTPB in the second half, scoring 12 of the team's first 14 points to help the Falcons take a 43-35 lead.

A Keith Martin dunk at 12:05 of the second pushed the UTPB advantage to double digits at 49-39, but a 12-3 Newman run brought the game back to a single point at 52-51.

The Falcons never trailed down the stretch, increasing their lead up to eight points on a shot by Reynolds and a Martin layup followed by a pair of free throws by Heyer to lead by 10 at 64-54.

Newman pulled to within five points with two minutes remaining, but a quick 3-pointer by Anthony Dees extended the lead back out to eight points to help seal the eventual 10-point victory.

Reynolds led all players with 18 points off of the bench, hitting 5-7 from the field and 7-8 from the line. Madison Turner scored 11 of his 16 after halftime while Heyer scored all 15 of his points in the final 20 minutes to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. Martin added 10 points to go with three steals and a pair of blocks.

Darrell Traylor led Newman with 17 points, hitting 7 of his 12 field goals on the night.

The Falcons are back in action Thursday night, traveling to Austin, Texas, for a 7:30 p.m. contest at St. Edwards.