#19 Permian Basin looked ready to come back from an 18-point halftime deficit for the second straight game in the NCAA Tournament, but was only able to pull within four points in the second half of a 95-87 loss to #11 West Texas A&M Tuesday night in the South Central Region Championship Game at First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas.

The Falcons had the first points on the night, starting scoring in the game on a James McPherson 3-pointer for the early 3-0 lead, but a hot night beyond the arc by the Buffs on their home court, including making their first four 3-pointers and 10-13 in the first half, helped WT score 15 straight points for an 18-5 lead.  WT pushed the lead to 50-32 by the end of the first half.  

The Falcons came out shooting in the second half starting 8-10 from the field and 3-3 on 3-pointers to cut into the deficit.  Another 7-0 Falcon run pulled them to within seven with 4:27 to play.  An Andres Villa put back and-one made it 78-72 with 3:25 to play.  Daeshon Francis added a lay-up to trim the deficit to just four.  That was as close as the Falcons could get as WT would make their free throws dow the stretch.

Francis led all scorers on the night with 31 points with a game-high 13 rebounds, and McPherson added 20 points with five 3-pointers on the night.

UTPB out-rebounded the Buffs an incredible 50-25 on the night, including 18 offensive rebounds to just four for WT.

West Texas ended the night hitting 15-33 from 3-point range and hit 26-36 at the free throw line.  They were lead by Davis Chavlovich and Jordan Evans who combined for 54 points and shot 10-19 from 3-point range.

After the game Fracis and Sammy Allen were voted to the South Central Regional All-Tournament Team.  Francis finished the tournament averaging 30.7 points per game, 10.7 rebounds per game, while shooting .541 percent from the field and .821 percent from the free throw line.  Allen averaged 12 points per game, 12.7 rebounds and seven assists per game.  He also recorded his second triple-double of the season in the second round victory over Regis.