GUNNISON, Colo. (November 13, 2026) – In a game where both teams led by seven points and were tied nearing the final minute, The University of Texas Permian Basin men's basketball team lost 79-77 at Western Colorado University on Friday afternoon. This was day one of the South Central Region Challenge.
Tied at 73-73 nearing the final minute of the contest, WCU's (1-0 overall) top-scorer in the game, Quincy Scott, missed a layup but got his own rebound, drew the foul and made both free throws to make it 75-73 Mountaineers.
On the ensuing possession for UTPB (1-1), a block by the Mountaineers' Jhett Wells, the sixth block of the game for WCU, stopped the Falcons' layup attempt to tie the game and got the ball back for the Mountaineers.
After a 1-for-2 trip to the free throw line with 30 seconds left by WCU, UTPB's
Demarco Middleton hit both of his free throws with 21 seconds left to make it a one-point game (76-75).
Scott then hit both of his free throws for WCU, and up by three points (78-75) in the final 10 seconds, the Mountaineers fouled the Falcons to not allow UTPB to get off a final 3-point attempt. Middleton made both free throws for UTPB, and then Scott went 1-for-2 at the line for WCU to close out the win.
Scott scored 27 points for WCU on 3-for-5 shooting from three, including two big 3-pointers early in the second half, and went 12-for-16 from the free throw line. He was the only player in double figures for the Mountaineers.
For UTPB, Middleton scored 21 points and
Tyler Hamilton had 19. Both Middleton (6-10) and Hamilton (6-13) made six field goals while Middleton was 9-for-13 from the free throw line and Hamilton was 6-for-7.
Playing against his former school,
Tyler Halligan hit a 3-pointer to make it 5-4 Falcons in the opening three minutes of the game, and then hit another in the final three minutes of the first half to make it 37-31 Falcons. UTPB led by as many as seven points (13-6) and trailed by as many as five points (27-22) in the first half. An and-one by
Rylan Smith under 5:30 in the first half made it 27-25, two free throws by Hamilton under the five-minute mark tied it (27-27), and a 3-pointer by Smith with four and a half minutes left broke the tie (UTPB back up 30-27).
After connecting on just two 3-pointers in the first half, WCU hit four 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half, including two by Scott, to pull within one possession of UTPB each time, and then WCU's fifth 3-pointer of the second half (4 different players) made it 55-50 Mountaineers and forced a UTPB timeout six minutes into the period. WCU was 5-for-8 from three (62.5 percent) while UTPB had yet to attempt a 3-pointer at that point in the second half, but the Mountaineers would not make another shot from long range the rest of the way.
UTPB started the second half just 5-for-13 from the field and trailed 57-50 entering the final 12 minutes of the game, and was later just 7-for-21 from the field (33.3 percent) and 0-for-4 from three while trailing 64-59 at the under-eight-minute media timeout (7:26). Middleton was doing his best to keep UTPB to within five points, hitting a pair of free throws to make it 59-55 with 10 minutes to go and then scoring on a layup to make it 64-59 with under eight minutes left. Another layup by Middleton cut it to a four-point game (65-61) with just over seven minutes left.
A jumper by
Bryson Goldsmith made it two-point game (66-64) with six minutes left, and with both teams already with 10-plus foul in the period, a pair of free throws by
John Barbee with 5:20 on the clock made it a one-point game (67-66). Goldsmith and Barbee are both in-conference transfers to the Falcons this season.
After a layup by Hamilton kept it at a one-point deficit (69-68), UTPB finally got over the hump when an and-one by Hamilton tied it (71-71) and two more free throws by Hamilton (7 straight points) on the next possession made it 73-71 and gave UTPB its first lead since the 15:07-mark.
In a game that was decided in the second half, UTPB shot 0-for-6 from three in the period and despite shooting 80 percent (16-20) from the free throw line, the Falcons committed 20 fouls and watched the Mountaineers shoot 30 free throws (21-30) in the period.
In all, the game featured five ties and seven lead changes. UTPB led for just 5:13 in the second half.
UTPB lost despite out-rebounding WCU 16-9 on the offensive glass and racking up 13 steals, including three steals in the first half and four overall by
Brady Watson. In all for the first half, UTPB hit four 3-pointers and totaled 10 steals and eight offensive rebounds, and led 17-10 on points off turnovers and 9-4 on second chance points.
UTPB Head Coach
Kyle Tolin said after the game, "It was a tough game and I wish we would have been better prepared and played better. They shot 44 free throws which is probably the most I have ever been apart of. We need to do a better job of not fouling."
Next up, UTPB will conclude the South Central Region Challenge at Adams State University starting at 11 a.m. Mountain Time / 12 p.m. Central Time on Saturday, November 14.
