ODESSA, Texas (December 5, 2024) – Freddie Word scored the opening basket of the game and finished with 22 points for the second game in a row as The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team led from start to finish and defeated Texas A&M International University by a score of 72-59 on Thursday night inside the Falcon Dome.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 5-1 overall 2-0 in the Lone Star Conference while TAMIU falls to 5-5 and 1-1.

Word scored his 22 points on 9-or-17 shooting from the field and added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Dario Domingos was next with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting while DJ Armstrong added 12 points and three steals.

Alex Matthews finished with eight points and a game-high eight rebounds and Maison Adeleye chipped in with six points, six boards and three assists.

After Word scored a layup on UTPB's first possession of the game, Domingos followed with a layup and Adeleye added a jumper as the Falcons scored on each of their first three possessions and took a 6-0 lead.

A layup by Matthews made it 17-9 Falcons six minutes in and another layup by Word made it 23-14 eight minutes in.

UTPB's largest lead of the first half was 13 points (29-16) after an and-one by Word at the 7:27 mark.

TAMIU cut it to five (31-26) with a steal and a fastbreak layup on the first possession of the second half, but from there UTPB scored nine straight points to get its lead back to double digits (40-26).

TAMIU would twice cut its deficit to eight points in the first six minutes of the second half, but from there the Falcons maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way and led by as many as 18 points (68-50) after a layup by Domingos in the final three and a half minutes of the game.

Head Coach Kyle Tolin said after the game, "I thought we guarded pretty well tonight for the most part. In the second half we shared the ball better. It was another good win against at team who is really tough and I have a ton of respect for."

The Falcons held the Dustdevils to just 32.14 percent (9-28) shooting in the first half and then shot over 65 percent (66.67) in the second half to pull away.

The biggest difference in this one was points in the paint, a 26-point advantage (46-20) for UTPB.

Next up, UTPB remains at home to host Texas A&M University-Kingsville at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 7.