Jan. 27, 2007
The UTPA men's basketball team suffered its second straight defeat in United Basketball League action as the Broncs were handed an 82-67 setback to South Dakota State in Brookings, SD, on Saturday (Jan. 27).
The Jackrabbits snapped a five-game losing skid and improved their record to 5-15 on the season while the Broncs dropped to an even 10-10 during the 2006-07 campaign.
For the second straight game, the Broncs had trouble finding the bottom of the net and found themselves in a big deficit in the early moments of the contest. UTPA connected on only four of their first 15 shots and were down by a 23-8 count with 12:54 in the first half.
The Broncs struggled during the first half of action as UTPA connected on 29.2 percent (7-of-24) shooting en route to falling behind by a 37-24 deficit at halftime.
In the second half, the Broncs regained their shooting confidence as they were able to battle back to within seven points at 58-51 with 7:14 remaining in the game following a three-pointer by point guard Danny Puente (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.).
Despite a 60.0 percent (15-of-25) shooting percentage by the Broncs, the Jackrabbits were able to do one better as they connected on 66.7 percent (12-of-18) shooting during the second half of action and were able to secure the home victory.
Kai Williams finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with four rebounds in 33 minutes of action to lead the Jackrabbits. Garrett Callahan and Matt Cadwell finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX/Paris J.C.) finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting while Puente finished with a season-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the three-point line.
South Dakota State finished the game shooting 54.2 percent (26-of-48) while the Broncs connected on 44.9 percent (22-of-49) of their attempts. The Jackrabbits also controlled the glass as they were able to grab 35 rebounds to a season-low 21 boards for the Broncs.
The Broncs will be back in action on Thursday (Feb. 1) against United Basketball League-opponent IPFW at the UTPA Fieldhouse. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information