UTPB men's basketball led by as many as nine points in the second half of a Heartland Conference contest at Lubbock Christian Saturday afternoon, but the home team scored the final points of regulation to send the game to overtime where they sent the Falcons home with an 81-75 loss at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas.
The Falcons led for most of the first half and scored 10 straight points to build a 13-12 advantage into a 23-12 lead, getting the last five points of the run from
Chris Griffin on a 3-pointer and second chance layup.
Leading 32-25 at the half, the Falcons stayed on top until Lubbock Christian tied the game at 44-44 with 12:04 to play behind a 6-0 run.
Lubbock Christian took its first lead at 7:01 of the second when A.J. Luckey hit a pair at the line.
The Chaps never led by more than two points in the second half, and the Falcons went back ahead on a
Xavier Martin layup to grab a 62-61 lead with 1:47 to play. He hit a free throw after being fouled on the attempt for a two-point advantage, one that was erased when Luckey hit two more free throws with 41 seconds remaining. Those points ended up being the last in regulation as the game headed to overtime tied 63-63.
The Falcons scored first in the bonus session on a layup by Martin, but Luckey scored the next six points to put the Chaps ahead 69-65.
Martin hit a free throw to get within a possession, but Luckey connected from behind the arc to go on top 72-66.
The Falcons got the game back to two points when Martin hit another free throw and Griffin hit a 3-pointer off a steal by
Andre Smith, but UTPB never got closer than two points, and Luckey sealed the win for LCU with four free throws with seven seconds remaining for the 81-75 win.
Griffin led all Falcons with 24 points, hitting 9-15 from the field with a team-high seven rebounds. Martin added 15 points on the night with three assists.
Luckey paced all players with 36 points, hitting 23-30 attempts from the free throw line.
The Falcons return home for the final two games of the regular season and take on Newman Thursday night at 7:30.
