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For Immediate Release: January 8, 2002 SAN MARCOS, TX–The
University of Texas-Pan American men’s basketball team is back to its
winning ways. The Broncs made several clutch
plays down the stretch and held off host Southwest Texas State, 77-73,
at the Strahan Coliseum Tuesday night. Junior forward Andrius Sakalys
(Vilnius, Lithuania/M.Dauksos HS/Eastern Oklahoma State), whose layup
and subsequent free throws gave the Broncs the lead for good late in the
second half, made perhaps the biggest play of the game when he rebounded
a missed shot and laid it in with 24 seconds left to give UTPA a 74-71
lead. A moment later, senior guard Mire Chatman (Garland, TX/South
Garland HS/Southwestern Christian JC) stole the ball and connected on a
pair of free throws, making it 76-71, Broncs, with 10 seconds to play. The lead changed hands 24 times
before Sakalys put UTPA in front for good with 3:32 remaining. The
Bobcats led early, building a seven-point lead, 37-30, with 2:11 to play
in the first half before settling for a 39-36 advantage at halftime. But
Sakalys and Chatman hit jumpers at the outset of the second half to put
the Broncs back on top. The teams battled back and
forth until Clay Click’s three-pointer for SWTSU tied the score at 60.
Moments later, Chatman connected on a free throw to tie the game for the
last time at 63. Gerald Scott’s jumper gave the Bobcats their last
lead a moment later, then Sakalys’ free throw and layup put the Broncs
back on top and set the stage for their heroics down the stretch. “It was unbelievable,” said
UTPA Head Coach Bob Hoffman. “They play great defense, they have a few
guys who played us when we were at OBU (Oklahoma Baptist), so it was
tough to get good shots. (Senior forward) Marcus (Quinn got a big
putback, and so did Andrius. They got 19 offensive boards at our place,
and, tonight, we got 13 and they got nine, and that was a huge
difference tonight.” With all the big plays the Broncs made, Hoffman didn’t single out any of them. “You can’t measure what Andrius did,” said Hoffman. “He’s the kind of guy who will give you all he’s got. We have a lot of those guys. Mire also made plays. It’s fun to see these guys get it done. It’s amazing, in that 24 months ago, everyone expected us to lose, and now, every time we go on the road, these guys expect to win. We’ve transformed the program, and it’s because of these guys heart and determination.” Chatman led all scorers with 25
points, and added three assists and four steals. Sakalys added a
career-high 21 points, while junior guard Kevin Mitchell (Copperas Cove,
TX/Copperas Cove HS/ McLennan CC) had 14 points and five assists.
Sakalys, junior forward Terrell Hill (Carnegie, OK/Carnegie HS/Seward
County CC) and senior forward Marcus Quinn (Midwest City, OK/Choctaw
HS/Eastern Oklahoma State) each had seven rebounds as the Broncs
outrebounded the Bobcats, 38-31. Click and Marcus Johnson scored
13 points each for Southwest Texas, while David Sykes added 12. The Broncs improved to 14-4
with the victory, while the Bobcats fell to 4-9 with the defeat.
UTPA will return to action when they host Air Force in the second
game of a doubleheader Thursday evening at 8 p.m. The Lady Broncs play
Centenary at 6 in the first game of the twinbill. MBBSWTSU010802 |