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University of Texas Pan American snaps skid, tops Southern men
Advocate staff report
EDINBURGH, Texas -- Senior Tomas Sitnikovas had a career-high 21 points, including 18 in the second half, to lead Texas-Pan American to a 71-61 victory over Southern University on Wednesday night at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
Division I independent UTPA (5-16) snapped a nine-game losing skid. The Broncs hadn't won since beating Southern 65-59 on Dec. 19 in Baton Rouge.
"It's really good for these guys," Broncs coach Bob Hoffman said. "They'd been battling for a month without a win."
Delvis Diaz added a career-high 14 points, with Kevin Mitchell adding 13 points and six assists, Prince Thompson 10 points and Eric Montalvo six points, six assists and five steals.
Jaguars center Jerrid Campbell had 16 points and 10 rebounds and guard Victor Tarver added 14. But after halftime Campbell had only six points, with four of those in the meaningless final two minutes, and Tarver, who shot 5-for-22 and had seven turnovers, just five points.
Brian Johnson, Southern's leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, did not play. Johnson was taken down hard Monday while soaring for a layup in a loss to Mississippi Valley State.
Southern (3-10), averaging 59.5 points per game in its last four games, lost its second straight game and has three more games left on its current four-game road trek.
The Jaguars, down 10 points late in the first half, closed to within 49-48 with 12:30 to play when Tarver missed a free throw that would have tied the game. Sitnikovas, shooting 8-for-11 in the second half, then took over in an 18-5 surge in the next 10 minutes. The Lithuanian scored 10 straight points for UTPA.
"Our guys got a little fired up," Hoffman said. "We were going through the motions. Then we found Tomas and he made shots. I was happy to see those go down."
There were four lead changes and four ties in the first 14 minutes before UTPA went separated with an 11-1 run to take a 38-28 lead, holding a 39-32 halftime edge.
From there, Southern answered with a 13-4 surge, holding UTPA to four points in seven-and-a-half minutes, to get within 42-41 on a Pete Cipriano putback four minutes into the second half. The Jaguars got within one point three more times in the next three minutes but never could tie or regain the lead.
Southern used a 10-2 run to take its largest lead at 16-10. But UTPA, energized by the insertion of reserves Derrick East (all seven points in the first half) and Diaz (eight of his 14 points in the first half), took back the lead at 25-24 on an East 3-pointer with 7:28 before halftime.
The Broncs, who only go eight men deep, outscored Southern's bench 22-4.
CORRECTION: Tuesday's game story should have said Solomon Forbes (not Elvis Robinson) came off the bench to lead Valley with 18 points in a 72-59 win over Southern.
NEXT GAME: Southern is at Southwestern Athletic Conference leader Alabama State (8-7, 5-0) at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Joe L. Reed Acadome in Montgomery, Ala. The Hornets, who won the 2001 SWAC title, have won five straight games against Southern.
Advocate staff report
EDINBURGH, Texas -- Senior Tomas Sitnikovas had a career-high 21 points, including 18 in the second half, to lead Texas-Pan American to a 71-61 victory over Southern University on Wednesday night at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
Division I independent UTPA (5-16) snapped a nine-game losing skid. The Broncs hadn't won since beating Southern 65-59 on Dec. 19 in Baton Rouge.
"It's really good for these guys," Broncs coach Bob Hoffman said. "They'd been battling for a month without a win."
Delvis Diaz added a career-high 14 points, with Kevin Mitchell adding 13 points and six assists, Prince Thompson 10 points and Eric Montalvo six points, six assists and five steals.
Jaguars center Jerrid Campbell had 16 points and 10 rebounds and guard Victor Tarver added 14. But after halftime Campbell had only six points, with four of those in the meaningless final two minutes, and Tarver, who shot 5-for-22 and had seven turnovers, just five points.
Brian Johnson, Southern's leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, did not play. Johnson was taken down hard Monday while soaring for a layup in a loss to Mississippi Valley State.
Southern (3-10), averaging 59.5 points per game in its last four games, lost its second straight game and has three more games left on its current four-game road trek.
The Jaguars, down 10 points late in the first half, closed to within 49-48 with 12:30 to play when Tarver missed a free throw that would have tied the game. Sitnikovas, shooting 8-for-11 in the second half, then took over in an 18-5 surge in the next 10 minutes. The Lithuanian scored 10 straight points for UTPA.
"Our guys got a little fired up," Hoffman said. "We were going through the motions. Then we found Tomas and he made shots. I was happy to see those go down."
There were four lead changes and four ties in the first 14 minutes before UTPA went separated with an 11-1 run to take a 38-28 lead, holding a 39-32 halftime edge.
From there, Southern answered with a 13-4 surge, holding UTPA to four points in seven-and-a-half minutes, to get within 42-41 on a Pete Cipriano putback four minutes into the second half. The Jaguars got within one point three more times in the next three minutes but never could tie or regain the lead.
Southern used a 10-2 run to take its largest lead at 16-10. But UTPA, energized by the insertion of reserves Derrick East (all seven points in the first half) and Diaz (eight of his 14 points in the first half), took back the lead at 25-24 on an East 3-pointer with 7:28 before halftime.
The Broncs, who only go eight men deep, outscored Southern's bench 22-4.
CORRECTION: Tuesday's game story should have said Solomon Forbes (not Elvis Robinson) came off the bench to lead Valley with 18 points in a 72-59 win over Southern.
NEXT GAME: Southern is at Southwestern Athletic Conference leader Alabama State (8-7, 5-0) at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Joe L. Reed Acadome in Montgomery, Ala. The Hornets, who won the 2001 SWAC title, have won five straight games against Southern.
