MIDLAND The UTPB men’s basketball put on a show and then more for area elementary school kids with a 114-58 win over Dallas Christian on Tuesday at the Chaparral Center.
Playing in the Falcons’ inaugural Education Game in Midland, UTPB had little to no trouble in its nonconference win, taking control early and not looking back, improving to 7-2 for the season while the Crusaders fell to 1-8.
“It’s always great to begin history and we did it last year with the annual toy toss,” UTPB head coach Josh Newman said. “This is our first annual education game and it was a tremendous success.
“This is what it’s all about. They’re going to talk about this and tell their parents about it. It’s good for the community.”
UTPB wasted little time getting going in the first half and built a 32-point lead with 4:47 before intermission.
“We got some things going,” Newman said. “Our defense really played well. Any time you can come out and get a dunk and get a stop, it’s great. It’s good for the guys. We generated a lot of offense through our defense.”
The Falcons managed to capitalize on turnovers from the Crusaders, scoring 48 points from turnovers while Dallas Christian had only six.
“Typically, when you can get a turnover, the defense isn’t set so we had a lot of chances to score open shots and layups,” Newman said. “Our defense did a great job of forcing them into turnovers and turning those into easy baskets.”
The Falcons were led by Pat Dembley who had 22 points, going 7 of 11 on field goals, 4 of 8 on 3-pointers and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
“Playing in front of the kids was a fun experience,” Dembley said. “The energy was so great. The atmosphere was awesome. We put on a show for them and made them happy.”
Donoven Carlisle had 20 total points, going 9 of 11 on field goals and 2 of 2 on 3-pointers. Elvin Rodriguez finished with 16 points for the Falcons.
UTPB went 47 of 78 on field goals, 13 of 33 on 3-pointers and 7 of 8 on free throws.
Dallas Christian was led by D’Aaron Davis who had 29 total points. He was the only player on the team to score in double figures.
The Crusaders sent 23 of 57 on field goals, 5 of 19 on 3-pointers and were 7 of 15 from the line.
The Falcons came out on a strong note in the second half, opening with a 21-7 run capped by a layup from Carlisle with 15:22 left in the game.
A dunk by Brandon Deravine brought the Falcons to a 99-44 advantage and a Malik Anderson inside basket broke the century mark for UTPB with 5:30 remaining.
A transition dunk by Ethan Kieke sealed the deal for the Falcons.
Tuesday’s game was the first of three contests the Falcons will play this week.
UTPB will return to the floor as well as to Lone Star Conference play when the Falcons take on Midwestern State in a 7:30 p.m. game Thursday at Falcon Dome.
UTPB will close out the week against Sul Ross State with a 1 p.m. Saturday tipoff at home.
“We have two more games and that includes a huge conference game, so we’re going to put this game behind us,” Newman said. “We’re going to talk about this game in the locker room and then turn our attention to Thursday against Midwestern State. We’ll have some more fun on Saturday then with our annual toy toss game.”
>> Follow Michael Bauer on Twitter at @OAmichaelba
Michael Bauer is a sports reporter at the Odessa American. He can be reached at mbauer@oaoa.com at 432-333-7772 or on Twitter @OAmichaelba.
