ODESSA, Texas (January 17, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team played against The University of Texas at Dallas for the first time, and in the end, UTPB saw five players score in double-figures and hung on late to pull out a 78-70 victory over the Comets.

In all, UTPB had seven players score at least seven points, and was paced by Rashad Kee with 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Kee scored 11 of his points in the second half, shot 50 percent (6-12) from the field, and was one of three Falcons with four makes from the free throw line (4-5).

Tash Lunday added 15 points and five rebounds, Sharrod Taylor recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists, and TJ McKenzie also scored 11 points. Bryceson Burns scored 10 points and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Rounding out the scoring was Brady Watson with eight points, all in the first half and on 2-for-2 shooting from three, followed lastly by Connor Morris with seven points.

Taylor, Burns and Watson each made two 3-pointers for the Falcons, who led 5-0 to start the game after a three by Taylor on the opening possession was followed by a circus-level reverse layup by Burns assisted by Taylor on the next possession.

It was a back-and-forth first half that featured eight lead changes. The final lead change of the first half saw the second of back-to-back 3-pointers by Watson, igniting what was a 9-1 Falcons' run to take a seven-point lead (33-26) with seven minutes left in the opening period.

The two teams combined for 38 3-point attempts in the first half, but only 10 makes. UT Dallas made four 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the game and UTPB had five in the first 11 minutes, but then both teams had just four more makes from long range the rest of the way. In addition, both teams had the exact same shooting numbers (13-35; 37.14 percent) from the field in the first half.

After just the second tie of the game (36-36) in the opening minute of the second half, UTPB went back ahead by six points (45-39) just over four minutes in after an alley-oop layup from Taylor to Kee was followed by a dunk from Kee on another nice pass from Taylor.

Just before the six-minute mark into the second half, another assist by Taylor led to an and-one by Kee to match UTPB's largest lead of the first half (48-41). That was just the beginning of a 7-0 run in less than a minute that saw UTPB score on three straight possessions and take its largest lead of the game (52-41) after two free throws by McKenzie.

UT Dallas got its deficit down to four points (57-53) with 7:45 remaining after the game's leading scorer, Jaden Jefferson (18 points), was fouled shooting a 3-pointer but made only the final free throw, missing out an on opportunity to cut it a one-score game, something the Comets would not accomplish until the final minute and a half.

For the second time in the second half, UTPB scored on three straight possessions, jumping back ahead by nine points after a 3-pointer by McKenzie with six and a half minutes left to play.

After going scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the second half, Lunday broke through with a 3-pointer to make it a 67-59 Falcons' lead. Lunday later made two perfect trips to the free throw line, sinking both shots with 2:14 remaining and the again with 1:30 left to make it 73-67.

The decision, however, was still in doubt as UT Dallas refused to go away quietly. With 1:20 to go, a 3-pointer by the Comets' Peyton Dulin made it just a three-point game (73-70).

The Falcons also had to navigate foul trouble late in the game, but were able to do so by being perfect from the charity stripe in the second half (10-10).

After four straight free throw makes by Lunday, this time McKenzie went to the line with 44 seconds remaining and made both shots to make it a 75-70 Falcons' lead, and the Comets never got any closer.

In all for the game, UTPB was 15-for-16 (93.8 percent) from the charity stripe.

Another key difference was bench points, a statistic UTPB led 35-11, thanks in large part to Kee's second-half scoring effort.

"It was a nice win at home," spoke UTPB Head Coach Kyle Tolin. "Thanks to the great crowd that showed up today. Our guys really used the energy. I thought our bench was really good today and several of those guys really played well."

In addition to improving to 7-11 overall and 3-7 in the Lone Star Conference with the win, UTPB took down the eighth-place team in the conference in UT Dallas (5-11, 4-4), which was riding a four-game winning streak after winning twice by at least 25 points last week and then defeating Angelo State University by 12 (65-53) on the road on Thursday.

Next up for the Falcons will be just one game next week as UTPB travels to Texas A&M International University for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, January 22.