LAWTON, Okla. (December 14, 2024) – Nearly everyone played a role in this one as The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team led by 18 points at the half and never let Cameron University get to within seven points in the second half until the final seven seconds. In the end, it was an 84-77 road victory for the Falcons over the Aggies.

UTPB (7-2 overall, 4-1 Lone Star Conference) led by 10 (26-16) after an offensive rebound and basket by Maison Adeleye with eight and a half minutes left in the first half. Then after a 3-pointer by Adeleye assisted by Tristan Lewis, offensive rebounds by DJ Armstrong and Chuks Ejiofor led to another 3-pointer by Adeleye to make it 32-18 with five and a half minutes left in the opening period.

As the first half ran down, Adeleye came up with another offensive rebound and score, and then Armstrong stole the inbounds pass and hit a 3-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded to make it 47-29 Falcons at the break.

UTPB used 15 offensive rebounds and 11 turnovers by Cameron (3-6, 0-3) in the first half to get 20 more shot attempts than the Aggies (46-26). UTPB led it 20-0 on points off turnovers and 20-10 on second chance points at halftime.

After Cameron missed two layups trying to cut its deficit to single digits in the first seven minutes of the second half, a layup by Alex Matthews stopped a 10-2 Aggies' run, and then two minutes later Matthews came up with a steal and a coast-to-coast layup to make it a 15-point lead again (59-44) with under 12 minutes left to play.

With 8:27 on the clock, Cameron missed a pair of free throws that again could have made it a nine-point game, but Drake Kelley secured the defensive rebound and Adeleye finished with the layup to complete the four-point swing.

Cameron did cut it to nine (65-56) after a layup with under seven minutes left, but fortunately for UTPB, Armstrong answered with a 3-pointer on the assist from Freddie Word on the next possession.

A 3-pointer by Cameron made it an eight-point game (72-64) with under five minutes remaining, and again UTPB had the answer on a nifty pass by Matthews to Dario Domingos for a layup.

Word helped push the Falcons to the finish line by hitting two tough midrange jumpers near the elbow in the final four minutes and then adding a layup with under two minutes left to make it a 15-point margin (82-67) yet again.

Despite UTPB shooting 57.14 percent from the field in the second half, Cameron was able to continuously cut into the lead thanks to a combination of five 3-pointers and 15-for-19 shooting from the free throw line.

After scoring 18 points in the first half, Adeleye finished with a career-high 24 points on 60 percent shooting (9-15) from the field and 2-for-3 shooting from three. Domingos was next with 16 points while adding a game-high eight rebounds, followed by Matthews with 15 points, Word with 14 and Armstrong with 11 on three 3-pointers.

"It was a good week for our team," spoke Head Coach Kyle Tolin. "We got better this week and won two big road games. It was great to get Maison playing at the level we know he can play at. We had five guys scoring in double figures and were really balanced."

The Falcons outscored the Aggies 42-26 in the paint and committed their fewest turnovers this season (6).

Next week will see the Falcons head to the River City Holiday Classic in San Antonio, Texas. UTPB will battle the University of Central Missouri at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, December 17, in the first game of the tournament before a bigtime matchup against No. 3 nationally-ranked Washburn University starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18, in the final game of the tournament.