ODESSA, Texas (January 11, 2025) – Four players were in double figures for scoring, Maison Adeleye scored 20-plus points for the fourth time in the last seven games, and Alex Matthews recorded his second-straight double-double as The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team was victorious by a score of 78-71 over West Texas A&M University on Saturday afternoon at the Falcon Dome.

Despite 33 points from WT's Ahamed Mohammed, it was a team effort from UTPB.

Adeleye poured in 24 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field, 3-for-8 shooting form three, and a 5-for-6 mark from the foul line. He also added four assists and a pair of blocks.

Matthews registered 19 points and 10 rebounds, had five assists for the second game in a row, and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

DJ Armstrong was next with 18 points, five boards and two steals, and was followed by Dario Domingos with 14 points and three blocks.

Despite not scoring a field goal, Freddie Word approached a double-double himself with an incredible 16 rebounds to go along with eight assists.

Chuks Ejiofor played great minutes at the center position in relief of Domingos and tied the UTPB single-game record with seven blocks. The record was originally set on February 25, 2012, by Erik Martin vs. St. Edward's University. As a team, UTPB's 14 blocks broke the previous program record of 10 on February 14, 2009, vs. St. Mary's University.

UTPB shot over 44 percent from the field with three 3-pointers in both halves while holding WT to under 36 percent shooting with two 3-pointers in both periods. WT's 32.9 field goal percentage was the lowest allowed by the Falcons so far this season.

After shooting just two free throw attempts in the first half, the Falcons were much more aggressive in the second half and went 16-for-21 (76.19 percent) from the stripe during the final 20 minutes.

UTPB led by as many as 11 points (29-18) with six minutes remaining in the first half after a dunk by Armstrong assisted by Word before WT came back to knot it up at 35-35 at halftime.

Similarly to its win two days ago against Eastern New Mexico University, UTPB led by as many as 10 points twice early in the second half before the score was tied later in the period.

Tied at 55-55 with under 10 minutes remaining, the Falcons broke the tie with a 3-pointer by Adeleye and would hold onto the lead the rest of the way.

In the end, UTPB led the contest for over 37 minutes of gametime while WT did not hold a lead since the score was 12-10.

Holding a narrow 68-67 advantage in the final two minutes, the Falcons got a 3-pointer by Matthews with 1:34 left. After a turnover by WT's Mohammed, Matthews connected on a two-point jumper to make it 73-67, and then Matthews cleared the defensive rebound on a missed layup by Mohammed, drew the foul, and sank both free throw shots to make it a three-possession game (75-67) with only 39 seconds remaining and essentially seal the deal.

With its first win over the Buffaloes since December 5, 2017, UTPB improves to an impressive 12-3 overall and 8-1 in the Lone Star Conference while WT, a 2023-24 Final Four team and the 2024-25 favorite in the LSC preseason poll, falls to 10-5 and 5-4. The Buffs recently dropped from No. 1 to a tie for No. 6 in the D2CSC South Central Region Rankings while the Falcons moved up to No. 8 earlier this week, and are looking to continue to move up after two more wins.

"That was a big win for our program," spoke Head Coach Kyle Tolin. "They have been the class of the league for lots of years. We had several guys step up in big moments and make big plays."

UT Permian Basin remains home on Thursday, January 16, hosting Lubbock Christian University. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.