ALPINE, Texas (January 3, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team kicked off 2025 with a 78-51 road win in Lone Star Conference action at Sul Ross State University on Friday night.

The biggest difference in this one was clearly points in the paint, a 60-22 advantage for the Falcons.

In the end, Dario Domingos would finish with a season-high 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the field while Alex Matthews scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting overall and a 4-for-4 mark from the free throw line.

DJ Armstrong scored 13 points and made the only two 3-pointers of the game for the Falcons, and Maison Adeleye finished with 12 points.

Freddie Word added seven points and matched Matthews and Adeleye with a game-high eight rebounds, and Chuks Ejiofor had his best game of the season with five points and six boards as UTPB dominated the rebounding battling 41-28. It was a season-high in rebounds for the Falcons.

In addition to the rebounds, the Falcons' defensive effort was also outstanding as UTPB limited the opposition to its lowest points allowed and lowest field goal percentage allowed (34 percent) so far this season.

"It was a good Lone Star Conference win on the road," said Head Coach Kyle Tolin. "I thought we had some good minutes. I thought it took us a little bit to get back going after the layoff, but we picked it up and did some good things."

This is the second season in a row the Falcons have started 9-3, again tying the second-best start to a season in program history. In addition, at 5-1, it is the Falcons' best start in the Lone Star Conference since starting 6-0 in 2017-18.

After a sloppy first eight minutes of the game, UTPB began to assert itself and led 19-9 after a pair of steals by Domingos that both led to scores, including the first on a breakaway dunk by himself.

Sul Ross cut its deficit in half (21-16) before Matthews got his own rebound and finished it for two points with just under seven minutes left in the first half.

Domingos (11) and Matthews (8) combined for 19 of UTPB's first 29 points of the game, and then Word took it himself for a nifty layup to make it 31-20 in the final four minutes of the first half.

Domingos continued his strong performance with two layups to open the second half, and then UTPB extended its lead to 20 points (51-31) after a free throw by Ejiofor with just under 15 minutes remaining.

A jumper in the paint by Matthews made it a 25-point game (58-33) with under 13 minutes remaining, and then after two more strong layups by Domingos, a fastbreak layup by Armstrong made it a 30-point margin (66-36) just under the 10-minute mark.

The largest lead was 32 points after a euro step layup by Adeleye to make it 78-46 with two minutes left.

UTPB remains on the road on Sunday (Jan. 5), playing at Western New Mexico University. The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Central Time / 2 p.m. Mountain Time.