DAYTON, OH–A hot streak at the end of the first half by host Wright State spelled the end of the winning streak for The University of Texas-Pan American men’s basketball team.

The Raiders outscored the Broncs, 17-4 in the final 8:47 of the first half and went on to an 83-64 victory at the Ervin Nutter Center.

UTPA and WSU had traded baskets back and forth, with neither team leading by more than four points during the first 11 minutes of play. However, with UTPA ahead 25-24 and 8:47 left in the first half, Cain Doliboa of the Raiders connected on a pair of three-pointers and his brother, Seth, added another as Wright State took a 12-point halftime lead.

The Broncs, who have come back to win several times this season, came right back in the second half. Senior center Marcus Quinn (Midwest City, OK/Choctaw HS/Eastern Oklahoma State) made a pair of jump shots and added a free throw, and junior forward Jon Nubine (Oklahoma City, OK/Putnam City North HS/Carl Albert JC) and senior guard Mire Chatman (Garland, TX/South Garland HS/Southwestern Christian JC) connected on three-pointers and UTPA had whittled the Raiders’ advantage to five points, 46-41, with 16:13 remaining.

WSU outscored the Broncs, 10-3 and built their lead back up to 12 points, and held off UTPA the rest of the way.

“We didn’t finish as well as we needed to, and Wright State shot very well,” said UTPA Head Coach Bob Hoffman. “Cain Doliboa is a great shooter, and they did a great job finding him, while we didn’t shoot it very well. We missed a lot of open threes. Wright State is a better team than they were last year. They are well-coached, they play together, and they execute their offense well. When you shoot threes like they do, you are going to win a lot of games.”

Chatman led UTPA with 22 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Quinn had his second consecutive double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Cain Doliboa led WSU with 22 points, Seth Doliboa and Vernard Hollins added 20 points each, and Jesse Deister added 13. The Raiders made 60 per cent of their shots from the field for the game, 56.3 per cent from beyond the three-point line.

With the defeat, the Broncs fell to 17-5 and saw their four-game winning streak end. UTPA had not lost since an 81-69 defeat at Texas January 2^nd. WSU improved to 11-6 with the victory.

The Broncs will return to action when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. A large crowd is expected.  

BOXSCORE

MBBWRIGHTSTATE012302