UTRGV Men’s Basketball Earns Gritty Win Over East Texas A&M

The crowd of 1,286 roared as the East Texas A&M Lions dribbled the ball up the floor, trailing by two, with 12 seconds left. Stout defense by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) forced a shot from beyond the arc that went wide left as the clock expired giving UTRGV a 57-55 win that can only be described as Monday Madness.

Junior Howie Fleming Jr. shined as he recorded his fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while dishing four assists for the Vaqueros (11-6, 3-3 SLC). Senior Cliff Davis dropped 15 points with four rebounds and two assists.

Tay Mosher led the Lions (2-15, 0-6 SLC) in scoring with 11 points while grabbing four rebounds.

The Lions jumped out to a quick 13-2 lead before that saw three threes go through the bottom of the net. Fifth year senior K.T. Raimey used his speed and toughness to drive into the lane and hit a contested layup.

Trailing 15-5, Fleming Jr. created two open looks for the Vaqueros, the first assist coming off an offensive rebound where he found sophomore Tommy Gankhuyag underneath for the layup. On the second assist, Fleming Jr. drove in and found a wide-open graduate student DK Thorn at the wing for a three as the shot clock expired.

After a scoreless 3:10, Davis delivered from the corner after great ball movement from senior Hasan Abdul-Hakim and Thorn to cut the lead to two.

The Vaqueros and Lions exchanged baskets before Gankhuyag got a steal underneath that turned into a tough, fastbreak layup from Fleming Jr. and the student section erupted.

The Lions answered with a three before Davis responded with a three of his own. The two teams exchanged layups as the Lions took a 27-26 lead into the half.

Agwa started the half with a dunk before the Lions rattled off eight unanswered points to stretch the lead to seven. Abdul-Hakim responded by hitting his first three of the game.

Trailing 40-32, junior Trey Miller used his touch to hit contested layups on back-to-back possessions before a steal by Thorn led to a fastbreak three when Miller hit Davis in the right corner to trim the deficit to one.

The Lions hit consecutive layups out of the timeout before the Vaqueros responded with a corner three from Davis. However, the Lions continued to work the paint as they scored on a dunk, an and-one layup, and a post hook to extend the lead to nine.

The Vaqueros answered with a Fleming Jr. scored eight of the next 10 points for the Vaqueros, hitting a three, a second-chance dunk, and a coast-to-coast layup to take the lead.

Fleming Jr. continued his dominating end to the game as he was fouled trying to get in position, going 1-2 from the free throw line, before hitting a contested layup to extend the lead to 55-51. Fleming scored 11 of the final 15 points for the Vaqueros.

Up next, the Vaqueros will visit Houston Christian Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Fans can watch on ESPN+.