UTPB men's basketball came back from an early hole for the second straight game in defeating Dallas Baptist 81-65 Monday night in Odessa.
The Falcons fell behind by nine in the early minutes Monday when the Patriots scored seven straight points to expand a two point advantage out to a nine point, 13-4 lead through the first four minutes of the night.
UTPB responded with a 10-1 run started by a four-point play from
Malcolm Hill-Bey. A pair of three-point plays from
Madison Turner and
Xavier Martin tied the contest at 14-14 after just two minutes.
The Falcons took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer from
Chris Griffin at 12:20 to go on top 21-18, and later build an eight-point advantage with 10 straight points from five different players to pull ahead 33-25.
Dallas Baptist came bvack at the end of the half and went ahead 40-38 on a layup from Myles Johnson, but UTPB scored eight of the last 10 points, six from Griffin in the last 1:45 and a jumper from
Madison Turner with four seconds left to take a 46-42 lead into the half.
The Falcons built on their lead to start the second, leading by as many at 14 in the first five and a half minutes after halftime. UTPB held a game-high 17 point advantage after scores from Turner and
Lamar Falley on back-to-back possessions at 11:27 remaining, and the Falcons lead never slipped below 11 points through the remainder of the 16 point victory.
Turner led a group of five Falcons to finish in double digit scoring with 19 points, hitting 7-of-11 from the field on the night. Griffin added 17 points while
Codye Hatcher double-doubled with 12 points 11 rebounds to go with three blocks.
Xavier Martin scored 11 points with four assists and Falley ended the night with 10 points.
UTPB held Dallas Baptist to 37 percent shooting on the day while hitting 53 percent of its own shots, and the Patriots hit on only 4-of-15 from 3-point range after connecting on 16-of-32 attempts from behind the arc in the team's prior meeting, a 98-90 DBU win.
UTPB is back at home for a pair this weekend, hosting Texas A&M International Thursday night at 7:30.
