ODESSA, Texas (January 16, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team fought to overtime after a late offensive rebound and ensuing pair of free throws by Alex Matthews to end regulation, but ultimately fell 84-75 against Lubbock Christian University on Thursday night inside the Falcon Dome.

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first half while UTPB shot a blistering 58.62 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

However, the Falcons would shoot just 1-for-7 (14.29 percent) in overtime while LCU would rain in a pair of 3-pointers and went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the extra period.

Two of the biggest things that hurt the Falcons in this one were free throw shooting and offensive rebounds. UTPB missed five shots from the line (12-for-17; 70.6 percent) while LCU shot a season-high 94.1 percent (16-17) at the line and outrebounded UTPB 13-8 on the offensive glass, including two offensive rebounds in the final minute of overtime.

The Chaparrals lead the LSC in free throw shooting with a season average of 76.4 percent while UTPB allows the highest opponent free throw percentage in the LSC this year at 76.5 percent.

UTPB made seven of its first 11 shots of the second half and led by as many as nine points (49-40) after a jumper by Matthews over six minutes into the period.

Neither team made it to the free throw line until the 12:39 mark in the second half.

With a 51-44 lead after a layup by Freddie Word with 12 minutes to play, UTPB's field goal percentage was still at 60 percent for the game.

The score was tied at 51-51 with 10 minutes remaining after a fastbreak dunk by the Chaps, but a minute later, a block by Dario Domingos on a 3-pointer by LCU saw the big man take it all the way himself for a layup to give UTPB a four-point lead (55-51).

Then tied at 58-58 approaching the five-minute mark, a nice and-one layup by Word on the assist by Matthews put the Falcons back in front.

At the 3:37 mark, an emphatic block by Domingos again on an LCU 3-pointer this time led to a smooth midrange jumper by Word to make the score 65-62 Falcons 30 seconds later.

With UTPB trailing on the scoreboard in the final minute, LCU finally missed its only free throw of the game with 17 seconds remaining, opening the door for the Falcons. Word went to the free throw line with 12 seconds left, made his first attempt, but fortunately for UTPB, a miss on the second attempt saw Matthews hustle for the board for draw a quick foul. Matthews would calmly sink both free throw shots, and then a missed midrange jumper by LCU ended regulation.

After seven ties and seven lead changes in regulation, LCU led the whole way in overtime, and after a layup by Maison Adeleye got UTPB to within one (75-74) with 3:25 remaining, the Falcons were held to just one point the rest of the way.

Word tied the game-high with 23 points while shooting 9-for-17 from the field and adding seven rebounds. Matthews scored 16 points while shooting 7-for-12 and contributing four rebounds and four assists. Domingos added 13 points, a team-high eight rebounds and had three blocked shots; and Adeleye provided eight points, four assists and three steals.

In his return to the lineup for the first time since November 10, Bryceson Burns provided a much-needed scoring punch off the bench and finished with 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from behind the arc, the only made 3-pointers of the game for the Falcons.

UTPB held an LCU squad that ranks No. 2 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (41.9 percent) to 32.0 percent shooting (8-25) from behind the arc, and kept the No. 1 3-point shooter in the Lone Star Conference, Ethan Duncan (46.3 percent), to a 2-for-10 mark. Despite the struggles from long range, Duncan led the Chaps and matched Word with 23 points while Amondo Miller Jr. reached a 20-point double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds) for his first-career double-double.  Duncan had 17 of his points in the second half and overtime and Miller Jr. scored 15 of his in that same time frame.

With its six-game conference winning streak snapped, UTPB falls to 12-4 overall and 8-2 in the Lone Star Conference while Lubbock Christian, which has now bounced back from each of its five losses this season with a win in the following game, improves to 12-5 and 7-2.

UTPB and LCU are now in a virtual tie for the West Division lead with one in-division loss each.

Next up, UTPB will stay at home to wrap up a four-game homestand against Midwestern State University beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 18.