ODESSA, Texas (December 7, 2024) – Two days after never trailing in a Lone Star Conference victory on Thursday, the University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball never led this time around in a 70-66 defeat at home to Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Saturday.

UTPB suffers its first loss in Lone Star Conference action this season (2-1) and sees its four-game winning streak come to an end (5-2 overall). Kingsville, meanwhile, picks up its first conference win of the season (1-2) and gets back to .500 on the season at 5-5 overall.

The Falcons trailed by scores of 7-0 and 18-8 to start the game and found themselves down by as many as 15 points (23-8) 12 minutes in. UTPB missed each of its first six shots of the game and was just 3-for-15 at the point it fell behind by 15.

UTPB cut its deficit to three (28-25) after a 3-pointer by Drake Kelley with four minutes left in the first half and trailed by four (34-30) at halftime after a jumper by Freddie Word as the clock ran down in the opening period.

A 3-pointer by DJ Armstrong less than three minutes into the second half made it a one-point deficit (39-38), and the Falcons would stay within 11 points of the Javelinas the rest of the way to try and give themselves a chance at the end.

With UTPB down 61-58 after a layup by Dario Domingos with two and a half minutes remaining, the Javelinas' Isaiah Payne had a pair of successful 2-for-2 trips to the free throw line to make it 65-58 with only 38 seconds left.

UTPB tried to stay in it as Word went coast-to-coast for a tough and-one layup, and then after two free throws by TAMUK's Zyon Little, Armstrong sank his second 3-pointer of the half to make it 67-64 in the final 20 seconds.

TAMUK then went just 1-for-2 on its next trip to the free throw line to make it a four-point game (68-64), but UTPB missed a 3-pointer from the corner with 12 seconds left that could have made it a one-point game, and then the final two free throws of the game by Bryson Goldsmith sealed the Falcons' fate.

UTPB missed its first seven shots from deep and did not make a 3-pointer until there was just 3:35 left in the first half. In all, the Falcons were just 1-for-11 (9.09 percent) from three in the first half and were 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) for the game.

UTPB also left valuable points at the free throw line, shooting only 50 percent (7-14) in the first half and 60 percent (15-25) for the game while TAMUK shot 81 percent (17-21) from the line.

Word led the Falcons with 19 points on 50 percent shooting (8-16) from the field. He also added a game-high five assists. Alex Matthews added 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and had a game-high nine rebounds. Domingos scored nine points and Maison Adeleye had six points and six rebounds.

Two players reached the 20-point scoring mark for TAMUK: Payne with 24 points on 3-for-4 shooting from three and Little with 20 points.

"I'm embarrassed by how we played today," said Head Coach Kyle Tolin on his birthday. "I didn't have our team ready to compete today. We will work and get better from this."

Next week will see the Falcons play on the road for the first time this season in conference action as UTPB heads to Oklahoma Christian University on Thursday, December 12 (7:30 p.m.), and Cameron University on Saturday, December 14 (3 p.m.).