Feb. 12, 2008
Edinburg, TX - The UTPA men's basketball team's (16-13) seniors combined for 68 points to help beat Cal State-Bakersfield (7-17) 86-68 on Tuesday (Feb.12) at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
The Broncs have won two in a row and will have a winning record for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
Five seniors led the way in scoring as forward Zach Trader (LaPorte,TX) scored 17 points, guard Brian Burrell (Nacogdoches, TX) notched 16, guard Danny Puente (McAllen, TX) had a season-high 15 points, guard Dexter Shankle (Katy, TX) recorded 12 and guard Paul Stoll (Lansing, MI) scored eight.
Puente made a career-high five three-pointers while Stoll dished out a career-high 14 assists to go with six steals. Stoll put a punctuation point on his Fieldhouse career with a three-pointer from just in front of half-court with under one minute left.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair for the first nine minutes and it was tied at 16. The Broncs then went on a 23-4 run to take a 39-20 lead. Zack Grasmick ended the run with a three-pointer with 4:32 to go.
The Broncs ended up outscoring the Roadrunners 27-10 starting with that run to build a 43-26 half-time lead.
The Broncs continued to pour it on in the second half, but only outscored the Roadrunners 43-42.
At the end of the game, the seniors were subbed out to a large ovation and the younger players came in to show what the future may hold. Freshman guards Damon Franklin (Flint, MI) and Steve Silva (Mission, TX) hit their first career three-pointers.
Terrence Johns led all players with 19 points and eight rebounds.
The Broncs take ten days of before playing again on Friday, February 22nd at 9:05 p.m. at Cal-State Bakersfield.
UTPA Sports Information