Men’s basketball advances to semifinals in SLC championship
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
The UTRGV Men’s Basketball Team is advancing to the semifinals of the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament after taking an 86-68 victory over Nicholls State University on Monday in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Head coach Kahil Fennell said he was proud of the team for winning, adding Nicholls was a tough opponent.
“I thought we played very, very hard and with discipline,” Fennell said. “There were some slip ups, turnovers and misses on ball-screen coverages, but I think by and large [we] came out and played the right way and with tremendous effort.”
He added he thinks Nicholls was also a “good starting point” for the team in the tournament, helping prepare for the next opponent, McNeese State University.
“It’s going to demand our mental toughness again,” Fennell said. “It’s going to demand discipline again, too, poise and all the things that allow us to protect the basketball. We have to do those while combining the element of being in attack mode as well. … Then on the defensive end, it’s very similar, too.”
Nicholls opened the first half with a pair of free throws by Jalik Dunkly, a sophomore guard, immediately taking a 2-point lead.
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
UTRGV responded with a 12-point scoring run throughout the first five minutes, kicked off with a 3-point shot by Julien Gomez, a freshman guard, and topped off with a hookshot by Filip Brankovic, a junior forward.
The scores put the Vaqueros ahead by 10 points, but the Colonels attempted to come back with a 12-point run of their own. Nicholls’ Sincere Malone, a senior forward, brought the gap down to as close as 1 point after a successful pair of free throws and a 2-point jump shot.
A dunk by Grant Sanders, a senior forward, allowed Nicholls to take the lead, but Brankovic pushed the Vaqueros ahead once more after scoring 7 points back to back.
According to Fennell, the team continued to “play the right way” during this moment, which allowed them to come back.
“Our guys did a fantastic job staying grounded and centered,” he said. “I know it sounds a bit cliche … and my players are sick of me saying those kinds of things, but man, when we do those kinds of things, we can be really effective.”
Multiple sets of successful free throws from Koree Cotton, a junior guard, and Jaylen Washington, a sophomore guard, also helped launch UTRGV, putting the Vaqueros ahead by 14 points later in the half.
The Vaqueros entered halftime strongly 44-32 and came back ready to continue the momentum with Marvin McGhee III, a graduate forward, and Cotton both scoring back-to-back 3-point shots.
On the Nicholls side, senior guards Jalin Rice and Trae English tried to bring the Colonels back to the top, but a 7-point run followed by a layup from Brankovich catapulted the Vaqueros toward their highest lead of the game at 67-42.
From then, UTRGV was able to maintain control of the game, finishing the match at 86-68.
Next up, the UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team will face Northwestern State University at 11 a.m. in the Women’s Quarterfinal, followed by the men’s team against McNeese at 8:30 p.m.
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
