Vaqueros advance in tourney

UTRGV will play against Texas Southern University in the second round of the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) at 7 p.m. today in the Fieldhouse.

On March 17, the UTRGV athletic department announced the men’s basketball team would host its first home postseason game as an NCAA Division I team.

In the first round last Wednesday, the Vaqueros defeated the Grambling State University Tigers 74-73 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse in the opening game of the 2019 CIT, earning its first victory in a Division 1 postseason tournament.

The last time UTRGV won 21 games was in the 1989-90 season. Now, the Vaqueros hold an overall record of 20 wins and 16 losses. In the 2001-02 season, they also won 20 games. This season, the Vaqueros  are on the verge of setting a new program record of wins.

Wednesday night’s was UTRGV’s second largest home crowd of the season and largest at the fieldhouse since Feb. 18, 2017, according to goutrgv.com

During the first four and half minutes of the first half, both teams traded a couple of baskets. Then, Vaquero junior guard Jordan Jackson made a layup and hit a 3-pointer to power a 10-0 run that led UTRGV to a 19-8 lead.

GSU got back with a 22-7 run, taking a 30-26 lead over the Vaqueros, but shortly after, UTRGV responded with another 10-0 run after junior forward Lesley Varner II made a jumper. GSU scored another 11 points but the Vaqueros remained with the lead 42-41 at halftime.

In the second half, Jackson hit a 3-pointer but GSU scored six-straight points to take the lead 47-45 over UTRGV.

The Vaqueros were down 70-63 with 4:53 remaining, but graduate guard Tyson Smith hit a 3-pointer and a couple of free throws, which was followed by senior forward Terry Winn III who sunk a layup, helping the Vaqueros tie the score 70-70.

GSU junior guard Dallas Polk-Hilliard made a 3-pointer with less than two minutes left, putting his team back on top, but Winn III made a layup with 57.9 seconds remaining and a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds left, reaching the score 74-73 to end the game.

Winn was asked about the free throws that led UTRGV to win.

“We had some shots go in that didn’t go in at the time period,” Winn responded. “I just had to make the free throws, really.”

Smith led the Vaqueros with 19 points and seven assists. Varner scored 14 points with six rebounds and two steals, sophomore guard Javon Levi scored 14 points with seven assists and three steals, Winn scored 10 points with six rebounds and Jackson finished with 10 points and two blocks.

Head Coach Lew Hill gave his general statement about last Wednesday’s opener win.

“Well, like I told my guys, we take all wins, right?” Hill said. “It wasn’t pretty. At the end of the year, it goes down pretty ugly, it goes down to win. So, we don’t throw them back. It wasn’t our best defensive game today, it wasn’t our best effort game today, but like we’ve been doing all year, dug down when it counted and found a way to win.”

Other results of the CIT first round include:

–New Jersey Institute of Technology vs. Quinnipiac University 92-81;

–Robert Morris University vs. Cornell University 98-89;

–Marshall University vs. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 78-73;

–University of Wisconsin-Green Bay vs. East Tennessee State University 102-94;

–Texas Southern University vs. University of New Orleans 95-89;

–and Presbyterian College vs. Seattle University 73-68.