College basketball: UTPB men win opener

Robert Harris, Quintin Lipkins, and a tenacious defense led the University of Texas of the Permian Basin Falcons to a season-opening 108-54 win over the Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets in non-conference college basketball game at the Falcon Dome Friday night.

The Falcons (1-0) got 22 points in a 20-minute performance from Harris -who hit 8-of-14 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line- and 21 points from Lipkins, who drained a pair of 3-point shots to trigger a UTPB run after Yellow Jackets had jumped out to an early 13-11 lead.

Lipkins nailed his first three-pointer at the 15:30 mark to for just the Falcons’ second lead of the game, then buried another after a Frankie Wheeler steal to give UTPB a 17-13 lead. The Falcons never trailed after that.

A tenacious Falcons defense forced 30 turnovers -23 on steals- and all 14 UTPB players finished in the scoring column as the Falcons got 53 points off the bench, compared to just 10 for the Yellow Jackets.

Josh Jones, who had 11 points, and Fred Gipson, with 10, were the only other Falcons in double figures.

UTPB ran out to a 45-28 halftime lead, then exploded for 63 points in the second half to break the century mark -including 12-0 and 14-0 scoring streaks to put the game out of reach.

Tom Hermann led Howard Payne (0-1) with 16 points. Travis Dawson finished with 12.

The Falcons will face the Sul Ross State University Lobos at 3 p.m. today in the second game of an afternoon doubleheader at the Falcon Dome. The UTPB Lady Falcons kick off the doubleheader with a 1 p.m. tilt against the Lady Lobos.

UTPB 108, Howard Payne 54

Howard Payne (0-1)

Tom Herman 6 3-8 16; Travis Dawson 5 0-0 12; Bryan Blalock 3 3-8 9; Chris Cornwell 3 0-2 7; Lee Scott 3 1-3 7; Brock Woods 0 2-2 2; Daytona Burch 0 1-2 1; Ryan Stone 0 0-0 0; Gary Thompson 0 0-0 0; John Bryant 0 0-0 0; Deandray McDaniel 0 0-0 0; Zane Smith 0 0-0 0; Nate Phillips 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-25 54.

UTPB (1-0)

Robert Harris 8 6-6 22; Quintan Lipkins 6 5-8 21; Josh Jones 2 7-10 11; Fred Gipson 4 2-3 10; Frankie Wheeler 4 1-3 9; Chris Dunlop 3 0-0 8; Ashley Arnott 2 0-0 6; Justin Bailey 2 0-0 5; Charles Harper 2 0-1 5; Kennan Gay 2 0-0 4; Andrei Pascu 1 0-0 2; Andy Spears 1 0-0 2: Renato de Paz 1 0-0 2; Luther Thomas 0 1-2 1. Totals 38 22-33 108.

Halftime — Howard Payne 28, UTPB 45. 3-Point goals — Howard Payne 4 ( Travis Dawson 2, Chris Cornwell 1, Tom Herman 1). UTPB 10 (Quintan Lipkins 4, Ashley Arnott 2, Chris Dunlo 2, Charles Harper 1, Justin Bailey 1). Total fouls — Howard Payne 22, UTPB 21. Fouled out — Howard Payne (Lee Scott). Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Howard Payne 37 (Brock Woods 8), UTPB 44 (Renato da Paz 7). Assists — Howard Payne 13 (Tom Hermann 4), UTPB 28 (Justin Bailey 6).