ODESSA, Texas (February 20, 2025) – One game before his Senior Day, Alex Matthews scored a season-high 31 points as The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team got back into the win column with an 80-58 home victory over The University of Texas at Tyler on Thursday night.

Matthews scored his 31 points in 37 minutes of action and shot 10-for-18 from the field, 2-for-4 from three, and a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line. He also added seven rebounds, four assists and blocked three shots. In just the second half, Matthews scored 23 points and added three rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

It was the most points in a game for Matthews since scoring 32 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 90-70 win at home over Western New Mexico University last season (Jan. 6, 2024). In addition, it was the second time in his two seasons at UTPB he has made nine or more free throws without a miss after shooting 10-for-10 from the line in the contest before the WNMU game, a 79-76 win over Eastern New Mexico University (Jan. 4).

Maison Adeleye was next with 16 points while Dario Domingos finished with 10 points and three steals. Chuks Ejiofor provided seven points off the bench while Sharrod Taylor led all players in both rebounds (8) and assists (5).

The biggest difference statistically was free throws at the Falcons shot a very impressive 22-for-25 from the line for a season-high 88.0 percent while UT Tyler was just 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from the stripe.

UTPB shot 52 percent (13-25) from the field, 55.56 percent (5-9) from three and 15-for-16 (93.75 percent) from the charity stripe in the second half to pull away.

Overall, UTPB was 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from three for the second game in a row while holding UT Tyler to 25 percent shooting (5-10) from long range.

UTPB forced six turnovers in the first 11 minutes of the game and led 9-2 on points off turnovers while taking a 20-15 lead on the scoreboard.

After UT Tyler cut its deficit to three points (34-31) following a 7-0 run between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, Matthews answered with a pair of free throws and a jumper in the paint on UTPB's next two possessions.

Then a 3-pointer by Adeleye assisted by Matthews made it a 7-0 UTPB run and got the lead back to 10 points (41-31) less than two and a half minutes into the second half.

The lead grew to 14 points (47-33) after a dunk by Ejiofor on a nice pass inside by Matthews was followed by a midrange jumper by Ejiofor assisted by Bryceson Burns.

An and-one by Matthews with 14:01 left made it a 15-point game (50-35), and a 3-pointer by Matthews assisted by DJ Armstrong near the 10-minute mark made it 59-43.

In the end, UT Tyler led for just 28 seconds on Thursday.

"I thought we really competed and played well," spoke UTPB Head Coach Kyle Tolin. "We had several guys step up and play well. The ball really moved and I think that's the best we have played in awhile."

UTPB improves to 16-10 overall and 12-8 in the Lone Star Conference while UT Tyler falls to 10 games below .500 both overall (8-18) and in the league (5-15). With the win, the Falcons move up one spot in the LSC standings into a tie for sixth place (tied with West Texas A&M University).

Next up, the Falcons will have a tough one in their final home game of the season against No. 5 nationally-ranked Dallas Baptist University on Saturday, February 22, during Senior Day. Prior to the start of the game, the Falcons will honor their four seniors with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the Falcon Dome.

After going into the final two games of the season just one game ahead of Angelo State University in the LSC standings, the Falcons will have a pivotal matchup next week (Feb. 27) in San Angelo, Texas. Last season, it was the Rams who scored with 10 seconds left in the game and kept the Falcons out of the postseason with a 68-67 win in Odessa, Texas, during the final game of the regular season.