CANYON The UTPB men’s basketball team dominated from start to finish Saturday to win its opening game of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional 87-69 over Arkansas-Fort Smith.

The Falcons (25-6) held a 30-point lead at halftime and cruised to victory to advance to Sunday’s semifinal against Regis College.

UTPB’s Josh Morris led all scorers with 28 points. Fort Smith’s Ladarius Coleman led the Lions with 25 points.

Daeshon Francis added 18 points for the Falcons. James McPherson finished the game with 12.

UTPB 87, Arkansas-Fort Smith 69

ARKANSAS-FORT SMITH

Ladarius Coleman 10-17 3-5 25, Marcus Wallace 3-7 2-2 11, DaVaunta Thomas 3-10 3-4 9, Adam Rivera 2-9 2-2 7, Dalton Glapion 3-5 1-2 7, Chris Crawford 0-2 4-5 4, Kyree Elder 1-2 2-4 4, Darrion Strong-Moore 1-5 0-0 2, Derrick Dandridge 0-3 0-0 0, Brett Jolly 0-4 0-0 0, Seth Hawley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-64 17-24 69.

UTPB

Josh Morris  12-17 4-7 28, Daeshon Francis  8-20 0-0 18, James McPherson  5-13 0-0 12, Garrett Baggett  3-7 0-0 9, Sammy Allen  4-12 0-0 8, Amari Bryant  2-8 0-0 5, Andres Villa  2-2 0-0 4, Zeldric King  1-2 1-2 3, Renard Thomas  0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-81 5-9 87.

Halftime — UTPB 49, Arkansas-Fort Smith 19. 3-Point goals — Arkansas-Fort Smtih 6-22 (Marcus Wallace 3-7, Ladarius Coleman 2-4, Adam Rivera 1-5, DaVaunta Thomas 0-1, Kyree Elder 0-1, Darrion Strong-Moore 0-1, Derrick Dandridge 0-1, Chris Crawford 0-2) UTPB 8-28 (Garrett Baggett  3-7, Daeshon Francis  2-3, James McPherson  2-9, Amari Bryant  1-7, Sammy Allen  0-1, Zeldric King  0-1). Total fouls — Arkansas-Fort Smith 16, UTPB 20. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None. Rebounds — Arkansas-Fort Smith 41 (Ladarius Coleman 10), UTPB 50 (Sammy Allen 15). Assists — Arkansas-Fort Smith 11 (DaVaunta Thomas 4), UTPB 19 (Sammy Allen 8).

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR