ALAMOSA, Colo. (November 10, 2024) – In what was the fourth year in a row the two teams met up in their season-opening tournament, The University of Texas Permian Basin lost 95-88 at Adams State University during the final day of the 2024 South Central Region Challenge. There were 118 combined points scored in the second half, a 61-57 edge for the Grizzlies.

It is the first time in Head Coach Kyle Tolin's four seasons leading the Falcons that Adams State was not their season opener. UTPB had previously lost by three points to Adams State during their season opener in each of the last two seasons.

UTPB trailed for all of the first half and found itself down by as many as nine points twice, including 32-23 in the final two minutes of the period, but was able to close to within three points of the Grizzlies at the break (34-31) thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Bryceson Burns.

The Falcons made just 11 of their 41 field goal attempts in the first half.

In the second half, however, even though UTPB shot 61.5 percent (24-39), ASU was been better, shooting an incredible 73.3 percent (22-30) and making eight of its 13 3-point attempts in the period.

ASU led by as many as 15 points in the second half, taking a 68-53 lead with 10 and a half minutes left.

Facing a 13-point deficit (85-72) in the final three and a half minutes of the game, a 7-0 run ending with an and-one by Sharrod Taylor made it 85-79 with 2:15 remaining.

The Grizzlies, however, answered with a 3-pointer, and then after a miss at the free throw line by UTPB, ASU got a layup to get its lead back to 11 points (90-79).

In the final 30 seconds, a putback dunk by DJ Armstrong allowed the Falcons' defense to set up their press, and a steal and an and-one layup by Alex Matthews made it 91-86, but that five-point swing in less than three seconds was the closest UTPB would get as ASU finished 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 20 seconds.

In the end, the Falcons struggled to keep up in transition, where the Grizzlies capitalized with a 29-11 advantage on fastbreak points.

Playing against a UTPB team that was 17-11 a year ago, ASU never gave up the lead in the entire game and moved to 2-0 on the season.

Six Falcons scored in double figures, led by Dario Domingos with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

He was followed by Matthews with 15 points. Matthews was 6-for-6 from the free throw line and is now 15-for-16 from the stripe just two games into the season.

Off the bench, Burns scored 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting overall and a 2-for-3 mark from three, and led the team with four steals.

Rounding out the top scorers for the Falcons was Armstrong with 12 points, Maison Adeleye with 11 and Freddie Word with 10.

Adeleye led the team with four assists and tied with Domingos and Word for the team-lead in rebounds (6).

"I was really disappointed with how our team competed today," spoke Coach Tolin. "I don't think we played hard for the entire game, and we didn't guard at all. There were some positives from the weekend, but we have several things that need to be cleaned up immediately."

After an exhibition matchup at NCAA Division I The University of Texas at El Paso on Tuesday, November 12 (8 p.m. Central Time / 7 p.m. Mountain Time), UTPB opens the home season on Wednesday, November 13, playing against Navajo Technical University at 5:30 p.m. inside the Falcon Dome.