UT Permian Basin men's basketball shot lights out Wednesday night and its defense held Our Lady of the Lake to 29 percent shooting as a team as the Falcons picked up a 105-61 victory in their second straight home game in 2018 in Odessa.

The Falcons (5-1) pushed the game out to a double-digit lead in the opening 10 minute as part of a 12-0 run. Isaiah Hammons and Xavier Ledet led the stretch with a pair of layups on back to back possessions, and a basket by Miles Washington helped the Falcons to a 16-6 lead after seven minutes. A dunk by Hammons followed by four straight points from Maurice Walton.

Walton led the Falcons with 10 points at the half as the Falcons enjoyed a 55-26 halftime advantage. UTPB held OLLU to just 1-14 from 3-point range in the first half as the Saints were just 8-31 from the field as a team (25.8 percent) compared to the Falcons hitting 21-28 (55.3 percent) of the field goals in the first 20 minutes. Kyree Elder led UTPB with five assists before halftime and Hammons had four helpers as nine different Falcons scored in the opening half. 

"I was very happy with our offensive execution,especially against their pressure defense" said head coach Josh Newman. "We did a great job attacking their press and scoring out of our press offense. Once we started getting easy layups the basket seemed a little bigger and the 3's started falling. We've had back to back 20 assist games and it shows we are sharing the ball better. I really challenged our team defensively tonight, OLLU was averaging over 90 points per game. I thought we were locked in and committed to guarding for about 30 minutes, especially from the 3-point line." 

Three Falcons led UTPB with nine points each in the second half as Elder hit three from 3-point range and DeMarco Jackson and Jamani Glover each scored nine points after halftime as UTPB continued the offensive display, hitting 19-34 collectively as a team from the field.

Elder led UTPB on the night with 18 points, hitting 6-8 field goals with a perfect 4-4 night beyond the arc to go with a team-leading five assists. Miles Washington added 15 points on 7-11 from the field. Walton hit 6-7 on the night to add 14 points, and Jackson hit two from 3-point range to chip in 13 points.

The Falcons ended the game 40-72 from the field as a team to shoot 55.6 for the game. They also hit 10-21 (47.6 percent) from 3-point range as a unit in their highest offensive scoring night of the season. 

UTPB continues play in the Permian Basin this weekend, hosting University of the Southwest Saturday night. The Falcons will take on the Mustangs for the first time in Midland, with tip off at the Chap Center on the campus of Midland College set for 6 p.m. Admission is free for all fans and fans are encouraged to enter the game through entrance #2.

"'I'm thrilled for the University and our basketball team to play the 1st ever UT Permian Basin basketball game in Midland," said Newman. "It's a great opportunity to show the Midland community what we are building at UTPB. I'm excited to do my part to connect and excite the entire Permian Basin about Falcon basketball. "