WICHITA FALLS, Texas (February 13, 2025) – In a battle between two of the top-five teams in the Lone Star Conference men's basketball standings, it was Midwestern State University that jumped out to an early 24-point led and separated itself from The University of Texas Permian Basin in the standings with a 75-61 victory over the Falcons on Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Despite a 3-pointer by Maison Adeleye on the first play of the game, the Mustangs scored on each of their first six possessions and led 15-6.

MSU started 9-for-11 from the field and 5-for-6 from three and led 23-10 after hitting a 3-pointer right after the first media timeout seven minutes in.

A 16-0 run featuring four 3-pointers by the Mustangs made it 34-10 with 8:41 left in the first half. MSU was still on fire, starting 13-for-16 from the field and 8-for-10 from three to that point while Will Shepherd, who would score a team-high 14 points for the Mustangs, made each of his first four 3-point attempts to start the game.

UTPB, however, did a great job of cutting into the lead with a 16-3 run to make it 37-26 until two free throws by MSU with 3.3 seconds left in the first half.

UTPB cut its deficit to single digits (43-34) just over three minutes into the second half after four-point play by DJ Armstrong assisted by Alex Matthews was followed by a jumper by Matthews assisted by Armstrong.

The action heated up as a second-straight 3-pointer by Bryceson Burns was followed by a layup by Matthews to cut UTPB's deficit to six (57-51) with 10 and a half minutes remaining

However, MSU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers, and UTPB would get no closer than to within nine points the rest of the way.

UTPB made four of its first seven 3-pointers in the second half after shooting just 2-for-10 from long range in the first half, but would finish 6-of-20 (30 percent) for the game. MSU, meanwhile, shot 14-for-26 (53.8 percent) from three and was coming off a win in which it held is opponent to only 11.8 percent (2-17) shooting from beyond the arc last Saturday. Coming into the game, the Mustangs ranked second in the LSC and 24th in the nation with a 3-point shooting percentage of 38.2 percent and were hitting an average of 9.5 3-pointers per game, which led the conference. MSU has now hit at least 10 3-pointers in a game 12 times this season.

Midwestern State also came into the game holding opponents to 65.8 points per game, which ranked as the best scoring defense in the league. The Mustangs were also ranked sixth in the nation and led the league with a field goal percentage defense of 39.1 percent. Opponents were only hitting 28.8 percent of their 3-point attempts against the LSC's best 3-point percentage defense coming in, which is fifth-best in the nation. Each of those numbers tilted in MSU's favor on Thursday.

Freddie Word led all players with 16 points while adding seven rebounds and four assists. Armstrong was next with 14 points while Matthews added 11. Adeleye scored eight points after accounting for each of UTPB's first six points of the game. Lastly, Dario Domingos matched a game-high with 10 rebounds.

UTPB falls to 15-9 overall and 11-7 in the Lone Star Conference while MSU, which is still receiving votes in the NABC and D2CSC Polls and is ranked No. 5 in the D2CSC South Central Regional rankings, improves to 18-5 and 13-4. The Falcons remain tied for third place in the West Division at 7-5, now 1.5 games behind MSU. In addition, the Mustangs are also now 11-1 when playing at home this season while the Falcons have dropped their last four games away from the Falcon Dome.

The last leg of UTPB's current four-game road trip will take the Falcons to Lubbock Christian University for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Friday, February 15.