ODESSA, Texas (November 14, 2025) – The first game of the 2025-26 season for The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team resulted in an 81-69 loss for the Falcons at home against Adams State University.

It is the fourth time in Head Coach Kyle Tolin's five seasons that the Falcons played against the Grizzlies in their season opener, with UTPB now falling to 1-3 in those games. In addition, UTPB is now 2-3 in season openers under Coach Tolin.

UTPB allowed ASU to sink 14-of-28 3-pointers and also shoot exactly 50 percent (28-46) from the field, including a 14-for-25 mark (56.00 percent) in the second half.

The Grizzles opened the game with nine 3-pointers on 17 attempts (52.94 percent) en route to building a 10-point (41-31) halftime lead.

Meanwhile, after shooting 6-for-12 from three in the first half, UTPB shot just 7-for-24 (31.2 percent) from the field and was 0-for-6 from three in the second half. UTPB finished with just 18 made field goals for the contest.

The Falcons' best source of offense in the second half came at the charity stripe, where they were 24-for-32 (75.00 percent).

UTPB struggled against ASU's full court press and full-line substitutions, committing 17 turnovers and being doubled up 26-13 on points off turnovers.

On the positive side, UTPB grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, limited the Grizzlies to five, and outscored them 16-7 on the offensive glass.

The Falcons were led in scoring by Tash Lunday with 14 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the free throw line, followed by Bryceson Burns with 11 points. Lunday, Burns and Marcus Burnett all tied for the game-high with eight rebounds.

UTPB was led in the first half with eight points by Sharrod Taylor, who sank two early 3-pointers to give UTPB leads of 6-2 and 11-10.

In all, both teams came out firing to start the season with 15 combined 3-pointers in the first half, including five makes from each team within the first 10 minutes.

ASU was led by Jace King with 12 points in the first half on 4-for-5 shooting from three. He would finish with a game-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from three overall. In large part to King's effort, UTPB was outscored 40-21 on bench points.

In the second half, UTPB trailed by 20 points (66-46) after a 3-pointer by King just before the halfway mark, and trailed by as many as 24 points (79-55) after a 3-pointer by Emilek Jallow with 4:15 remaining.

"Today's game was a hard one to play for a first game," said Coach Tolin. "We have practiced 22 times and a lot of what you are trying to build doesn't really show up. I think this team will continue to improve and get better though."

Next up, UTPB will conclude the South Central Region Challenge against Western Colorado University at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 15. WCU fell 91-72 at Angelo State University earlier on Friday. UTPB has not played WCU since a 96-85 win for the Falcons in Odessa on November 8, 2019.