EDMOND, Okla. (January 8, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team led by eight points at the half, but a 10-0 scoring run by the Eagles to open the second half set up a back-and-forth contest the rest of the way that saw a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute by Sharrod Taylor, followed by a go-ahead layup by Tash Lunday with seven seconds remaining. In the end, UTPB secured its first Lone Star Conference win and first true road win of the season with an 82-80 victory at Oklahoma Christian University.

UTPB (5-10 overall, 1-6 LSC) earned its 12th straight win against OC (7-6, 2-5) dating back to the 2013-14 season, but has now won each of the last three games in the series by less than three points. With a game-winning layup in the final 10 seconds, today's contest was similar to last year's matchup in Edmond, Oklahoma, when Freddie Word hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left.

Lunday led all players with 26 points, scoring 20 points in the second half and shooting 11-for-21 from the field while adding 14 rebounds as well. Taylor was next with 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting from three. Last year against the Eagles, Taylor scored 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting from three. For OC, Miles Gibson and Carson Jones both scored 21 points to match UTPB with two players with over 20 points.

UTPB led 8-4 early on after 3-pointers by Connor Morris and Taylor and a dunk by Kyle McElroy, and later led 14-11 as Morris and Taylor both added their second 3-pointers of the game.

UTPB opened the game 4-for-8 from three, but then the first 3-pointer of the game for the Eagles gave OC an 18-17 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. Over the next minute, UTPB answered with six straight points, the last four coming on back-to-back scores by Lunday to make it 23-18 Falcons.

A second-chance layup by Taylor made it both an 8-0 run and a seven-point (25-18) UTPB lead, and then after an offensive rebound by Lunday, the Eagles lost track of Taylor, who got open for his third 3-pointer of the first half to make it 28-20 Falcons approaching the five-minute mark in the opening period.

UTPB's scoring run expanded to a margin of 15-2 after a steal and one-handed jam by TJ McKenzie, making it a 12-point lead (32-20) with under four minutes to go in the half.

OC scored seven straight points before Taylor's fourth 3-pointer of the half made it 35-27 under the two-minute mark, and then a long 18-foot jump shot just before the buzzer by Lunday made it 37-29 at the break.

UTPB held OC to just 9-for-29 (31.03 percent) shooting in the first half and led for over 17 minutes in the opening period. Taylor led all players with 14 points at halftime, shooting 4-for-9 from three.

However, in the second half, OC shot an incredible 61.54 percent (16-26) to make it a ballgame all the way until the very end.

For OC, Gibson opened the second half with five straight points in the first minute to cut the Eagles' deficit to just three points (37-34) and pulling him to within one point of Taylor's first-half total. That jumpstarted a 10-0 run to the second half for the Eagles to take a 39-37 advantage just two minutes in.

In all, the first 11 minutes of the second half featured eight ties and four lead changes as a nice hustle play by McKenzie kept the ball inbounds and led to a fastbreak and-one layup by Lunday as the Falcons regained the lead (61-58) with exactly nine minutes to go.

OC took the lead one more time and led by as many as six points (67-61) before another and-one by Lunday made it just a two-point game (67-65) with 5:41 remaining.

The two teams then went back-and-forth on four straight layups, but a clutch layup by McKenzie drew the fifth foul of the game by Gibson, who exited the contest with four and a half minutes to play. McKenzie then finished off the three-point play with a free throw to make it just a one-point game (71-70).

With 3:40 left, Taylor was fouled sinking another second-chance 3-pointer, but missed the game-tying free throw as UTPB trailed 74-73.

Trailing 77-76 with under a minute remaining, UTPB took the lead with a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Taylor, his sixth 3-pointer of the game.

OC then tied it with a layup, and after a timeout, UTPB had 24 seconds to try and find the game-winner. Lunday was able to drive, get toward the baseline, and hit a tough one-handed layup to give the Falcons the lead with only 7.7 seconds remaining.

UTPB then had to hold on for the win as with 3.9 seconds left, a foul by Taylor sent the Eagles' Ma'syn Howell to the free throw line down by two points. After a miss on his first attempt, Howell made his second shot instead of trying to miss intentionally.

On the ensuing inbounds, Bryceson Burns opted to throw the homerun ball down the court, and that drew the foul to send Tristan Lewis to the free throw line with the Falcons clinging to a one-point lead. Lewis missed both shots, but a clutch offensive rebound by McElroy sent him to the free throw line, where he went 1-for-2. OC did get a look at a 3-pointer from the corner by Jones in the final seconds, but it was off the mark.

While UTPB made six more 3-pointers, OC had 18 more attempts and 18 more makes at the free throw line.

UTPB did win the rebounding battle 35-30 overall, and doubled up the Eagles 14-7 on the offensive glass. No rebound was bigger than McElroy's final offensive rebound, leading to the final point which gave the Falcons a 17-12 advantage on second chance points.

The Falcons also led 16-3 on bench points and 44-38 on points in the paint, and led the game for over 25 minutes of action.

"I'm really proud of the guys," said UTPB Men's Basketball Coach Kyle Tolin. "They have really had a good week of getting better. Both Sharrod and Tash had huge games for us."

Next up, the Falcons will remain in Oklahoma to play at Cameron University starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 10.