The UTPB Falcons got out quickly Saturday and maintained control all the way in defeating the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds 94-77 in Lone Star Conference men’s action at the Falcon Dome.
Daeshon Francis scored 20 points, leaving him four points shy of 1,000 for his career at UTPB, while Josh Morris had 17 points, 15 rebounds and six assists as the ninth-ranked Falcons (18-2 overall, 10-1 LSC) had their way against the Greyhounds (8-12, 3-8).
UTPB opened the game with a 10-2 run, then scored 11 consecutive points to go up 21-4 on Francis’ basket with 13:13 left in the first half. The Greyhound got within eight three times before the Falcons took a 48-39 halftime lead, and got within six early in the second half, but UTPB responded each time.
“We’ve been a complacent team and you saw that a little bit in the first half,” UTPB coach Andy Newman said. “We went up 17 and got complacent and they cut it to eight. I just think it’s good to see us in the second half be able to put a team away, to go up to 17 and keep it there, push it to 18 or 19. I think they got it to 13 late, but we got it right back to 18.
“We’ve got to get that part out of who we are before March comes or we’re going to be in trouble. We get up big on teams. We’ve got to keep the throttle down.”
Newman credited UTPB’s defense, which held the Greyhounds to a 1-for-10 start from the floor, with creating the opening run.
“We hang our hat on the defensive end,” he said. “We’re always going to score, that’s going to stay constant. But when we can stop teams from scoring, that’s where we make our runs. To start off 21-4, that was fun to watch because our defense was stopping them. I was excited about that.”
Morris had a double-double by halftime with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but said it happened in the flow of the game rather than because of any plan.
“I was just trying to do what my coaches tell me to do, nothing more, nothing less,” Morris said. “Be a force inside and crash the rebounds. Fortunately, it was a lot easier than with a lot of other teams. I don’t what happened, but it was a lot easier today. The ball just came to me.”
The Falcons enjoyed production from throughout the lineup as Garrett Baggett came off the bench with 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while James McPherson scored 12, Sammy Allen 11 and Zeldric King had 10.
Newman said Morris’ performance just highlighted how multifaceted the Falcons can be.
“(Morris) was a monster,” Newman said. “He’s really talented, really good. He’s a force inside and teams don’t know what to do with him.
“When he’s going, and you couple that with Daeshon and Sammy penetrating, and couple that with Amari (Bryant) and Garrett shooting the ball, then you’re scoring at all three levels and we’re really hard to stop.”
Morris said having such outside threats made his job easier.
“I’ve been depending on my teammates and my teammates depend on me,” he said. “We’re a team, we’re family. We’re just together.”
Zach Parker led the Greyhounds with 24 points, while Maurice Coleman scored 10 and Nick Brown added 10 off the bench.
MEN
Lone Star Conference Standings
Overall Conference
Team W L W L
UTPB………………………….. 18 2 10 1
West Texas A&M…………. 19 2 9 2
Texas A&M-Commerce… 16 43 8 3
Tarleton State……………… 12 8 7 4
Angelo State……………….. 15 5 6 4
Texas A&M-Kingsville….. 11 9 4 6
Cameron………………………. 8 12 4 7
Eastern New Mexico………. 8 12 3 8
Midwestern State…………… 6 14 3 8
Western New Mexico……… 3 17 0 11
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Saturday’s Games
Tarleton State 82, Midwestern State 75
UTPB 94, Eastern New Mexico 77
Cameron 84, Texas A&M-Commerce 62
West Texas A&M 99, Western New Mexico 55
Angelo State 109, Dallas Christian 64
Monday’s Game
St. Mary’s at Midwestern State, 6 p.m.
Tuesday’s Game
UTPB at West Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday’s Games
Texas A&M-Kingsville at Midwestern State, 7:30 p.m.
Angelo State at Cameron, 7:30 p.m.
Tarleton State at Eastern New Mexico, 8:30 p.m.
Texas A&M-Commerce at Western New Mexico, 8:30 p.m.
UTPB 94, ENMU 77
EASTERN NEW-MEXICO (8-12 overall, 3-8 LSC)
Lamarquis Thompson 2-5 0-0 5, Maurice Coleman 5-9 2-3 12, Shawn Shelton 1-2 0-0 2, Zach Parker 9-18 3-3 24, Arcaim Lallemand 3-9 2-2 9, Nick Brown 2-4 5-6 10, Devin Pullum 2-9 2-4 6, Andre Hughes 3-5 0-0 6, Isaac Maldonado 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 28-65 15-20 77.
TEXAS-PERMIAN BASIN (18-2, 10-1)
James McPherson 5-16 0-1 12, Amari Bryant 2-6 0-0 4, Daeshon Francis 9-16 2-2 20, Sammy Allen 5-9 1-2 11, Josh Morris 7-9 3-3 17, Garrett Baggett 5-6 0-0 14, Jevon Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Andres Villa 3-5 0-0 6, Renard Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Zeldric King 5-6 0-0 10. Totals 41-74 6-8 94.
Halftime — UTPB 48, ENMU 39. 3-Point goals — ENMU 6-21 (Thompson 1-3, Coleman 0-3, Parker 3-8, Lallemand 1-1, Brown 1-3, Pullum 0-2, Hughes 0-1), UTPB 6-18 (McPherson 2-8, Bryant 0-3, Francis 0-1, Allen 0-1, Baggett 4-5). Total fouls — ENMU 11, UTPB 21. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — ENMU 29 (Lallemand 5), UTPB 46 (Morris 15). Assists — ENMU 3 (Coleman 2), UTPB 18 (Morris 6).
