UT Permian Basin men's basketball wrapped up its 2018-19 season Saturday, closing out the regular season with an 81-69 loss against Tarleton State at the UTPB Gym in Odessa. Prior to the game, the Falcons honored their lone senior from this past season Xavier Ledet.

Ledet was one of UTPB's most consistent players this past season, averaging 10.7 points per game while leading the Falcons in rebounding, grabbing 7.6 boards per game. He hit 58 percent of his field goal attempts on the season and had five double-doubles this past year.

"First and foremost as a coaching staff we loved coaching Xavier," said head coach Josh Newman. "We never had to worry about his effort and toughness. We could always depend on that. His willingness to do whatever it took to help the team, we have been very fortunate to coach him and have him bring that impact to our team, the program and our staff."

The Falcons looked to be in a good position against the Texans early on. In a close, back-and-forth game, the Falcons led for much of the final 10 minutes of the first half and as by as many as six points, but trailed at halftime 39-36.

Tarleton State held the Falcons to 39 percent shooting in the second half, including 1-10 from 3-point range, and the Texans hit 15-20 at the free throw line to just 6-8 for the Falcons after halftime in the 12-point TSU win.

"We have to put tonight behind us. We didn't play well and executed poorly, but we don't have time to sulk about it," said Newman. "We feel we have a goo blueprint against Texas A&M Commerce, will tweak it a little bit and will need to come out and play a little better than we did last weekend to be successful on Thursday."

The Falcons advance to this week's Lone Star Conference Championships for the third time in their three years as a member of the conference. The #7 seed this season, they face a rematch against a #2 Texas A&M Commerce team that they just defeated at home 102-93.

UTPB takes on the Lions in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Championships Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.