SILVER CITY, N.M. (January 5, 2025) – Senior Dario Domingos recorded his second-straight season-high scoring performance as The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team beat Western New Mexico University 80-64 on Sunday at Drag's Court.

After dropping 23 points in the last game, Domingos was even better this time around, finishing with 30 points and 11 rebounds. He was 9-for-17 from the field and 12-for-17 at the free throw line.

It is the second year in a row a UTPB player has gone for a double-double with 30-plus points against the Mustangs in their early-January matchup. Last year, it was Alex Matthews, who this year scored 14 points and was 4-for-8 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

This is the second season in a row the Falcons have started 10-3, again tying the second-best start to a season in program history. In addition, at 6-1, it is the Falcons' best start in the Lone Star Conference since starting 6-0 in 2017-18.

Despite leading the game the whole way, it was a tale of two halves for UTPB, which led 9-1 to start and opened the scoring with a 3-pointer by DJ Armstrong before getting a pair of steals and ensuing layups by Domingos and Freddie Word.

An and-one by Matthews made it 12-3, and then it was 16-5 five minutes in after a pair of 2-for-2 trips at the free throw line by Matthews and Domingos.

Over the next three and a half minutes, three more layups by Domingos, the last of which was an and-one, gave him 13 of UTPB's first 23 points during a 23-10 start to the game for the Falcons.

The formula for UTPB was to pound the ball inside as the Falcons shot 8-for-10 on two-point shots and 9-for-12 from the free throw line in the first 10 minutes of the game.

An ally-oop from Word to Armstrong made it a 15-point game (32-17) with nine minutes left in the first half, and then Domingos again went 2-for-2 from the free throw line to give himself half of the Falcons' first 34 points.

After leading by 19 points (46-27) at halftime, UTPB saw its lead trimmed to just five points (50-45) seven minutes into the second half.

It was a 13-0 run and 18-4 start to the second half for WNMU that finally ended thanks to a tip-in by Domingos.

Then with just a four-point lead (58-54) after the eight-minute media timeout, Sharrod Taylor hit his second 3-pointer of the second half and then hit his third on the very next UTPB possession to make it 64-56 and help the Falcons try and shoot themselves out of the Mustangs' 2-3 zone.

Another perfect trip to the free throw line by Domingos got it back to a 10-point game (66-56) with a little over six minutes remaining, and then two free throws by Taylor made it 68-58 two minutes later.

After the final media timeout, UTPB was able to get the ball across halfcourt against the WNMU full-court press, and then Domingos muscled in a tough layup to make it 70-58 Falcons.

After opening the scoring with a three, Armstrong put the finishing touches on this one with an and-one on a fastbreak dunk, making it a 12-point game again (76-64) with just 1:20 remaining.

Head Coach Kyle Tolin said," It was another good road win. Good teams figure out a way to win games when things aren't going perfect, and I thought we did that today."

UTPB outscored WNMU 40-24 in the paint and 16-10 on second chance points, and won the rebounding battle 36-22. It was the lowest number of rebounds allowed by the Falcons in a game so far this season.

In addition to keeping its opponent under 40 percent shooting for the second game in a row, UTPB has now scored at least 80 points in three of its last four conference games.

Lastly, the Falcons' 78.8 free throw percentage (26-33) was their third-highest of the year so far.

The Falcons are back in the Falcon Dome against Eastern New Mexico University next Thursday, January 9.