UT Permian Basin men's basketball wrapped up its first Lone Star Conference regular season championship in its first season of competition in the league Saturday afternoon with an 86-69 win over Texas A&M - Commerce to close out the 2016-17 regular season.

The Falcons dominated after halftime, keeping the Lions at bay with a 10-point run that started at 16:04 on a Sammy Allen layup. Josh Morris scored on the next trip down the court to increase the lead to 10, and a 3-pointer by Johnnie Lacy put the Falcons up 55-42. Zeldric Kin hit a layup and the and-one to lead 58-42 with 13:30 remaining.

UTPB cruised the remainder of the game, leading most of the final 10 minutes by at least 20 points.

Johnnie Lacy led the Falcons in scoring in his last home game at UTPB, hitting 5-9 form 3-point range to lead all players on the day with 22 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists. Daeshon Francis scored 16 on the night with seven boards and five assists, while James McPherson and Josh Morris each had 14 points, Morris hitting 6-7 shots as the Falcons went 16-26 (61 percent) from the floor in the second half.  Sammy Allen grabbed 10 rebounds, his 18th game this season with double-digit boards.

UTPB closes the regular season 14-4 to sit atop the Lone Star Conference, riding a four-game win streak and are 13-1 in its last 14 games.

The Falcons head into next weekend's conference championships the top seed in the league, and open up action Thursday night at 8:30 against #8 Midwestern State. The Falcons and Mustangs split the series with each home team coming our victorious.UTPB most recently defeated MSU 92-85 two weeks ago in Odessa.