SAN ANTONIO, Texas (December 17, 2024) – The first game of the River City Holiday Classic saw The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team roll to a 23-point win, 83-60, over the University of Central Missouri.

UT Permian Basin led by 13 at the break and never relinquished the lead en route to earning its eighth win of the season highlighted by Maison Adeleye's game-high 29 points and three boards. Tuesday morning's contest was the first meeting all-time between UTPB (8-2 overall) and UCM (5-5).

In addition to scoring at least 80 points for the third game in a row, UTPB shot a season-high both from the field (64.2 percent) and from three (52.6 percent).

Adeleye led the Falcons in scoring for the second game in a row, dropping in a new career-high for the second game in a row as well, this time with 29 points on 12-for-16 shooting overall and 4-for-7 shooting from three.

Alex Matthews was next with 19 points on 80 percent shooting (8-10). He added a game-high seven rebounds.

Freddie Word scored 14 points for the second game in a row, shooting 6-for-9 shooting from the field to go along with a 2-for-3 mark from three.

DJ Armstrong rounded out the four Falcons in double figures with 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from three, his second game in a row with 11 points and three 3-pointers.

Sharrod Taylor dished out five assists in the first half alone and was matched by Word and Armstrong both with five assists as well.

UTPB shot 60 percent from the field in the first half with four 3-pointers.

An 11-0 run featuring two 3-pointers by Armstrong and an and-one by Matthews was ended with another layup by Matthews to make it a 15-point Falcons' lead (36-21) with under two and a half minutes left in the first half. Each of the 3-point plays during the run came after a UCM turnover, helping to give the Falcons a 15-6 edge in points off turnovers in the first half.
 
The Falcons then opened up the second half with another 3-pointer by Armstrong and a pair of makes from long range by Adeleye to expand their lead to 19 points (45-26) three minutes into the period.

After the strong first half, the Falcons were even more dominant in the second half, scoring 47 points while shooting 67.86 percent from the field and dropping in half of their 3-point attempts (6-12).

UTPB led by 29 points (61-32) after a free throw by Matthews with 9:10 on the clock and led by as many as 30 points (79-49) after another 3-pointer by Adeleye with less than four minutes remaining.

Winner of seven of its last eight games, UTPB will have a bigtime matchup tomorrow against No. 2 nationally-ranked Washburn University in the final game of the River City Holiday Classic at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18. All games during the tournament will be available on a pay-per-view basis through the MIAA Network with coverage beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from Northeast ISD Sports Gym in San Antonio, Texas.