Feb. 10, 2007

Box Score

Edinburg, TX- The Utah Valley State men's basketball team handed the Texas-Pan American Broncs its first home loss of the season in an 81-76 defeat.

The win ups the Wolverines record to 17-7 and it is the most wins in school history since they have played a complete Division I schedule. Utah Valley State won 16 games the last two seasons. The loss dropped Texas-Pan American to 12-11 and 10-1 at home.

Utah Valley is in a tie for first place with North Dakota State in the United Basketball League with a 4-1 mark. Texas-Pan American dropped to 2-3 in UBL play.

"UTPA, being undefeated at home, played with tremendous confidence, poise and determination," Utah Valley State coach Dick Hunsaker said. "We are just real fortunate to pull this game out. We were able to make plays down the stretch to hold them off."

For the third straight game Utah Valley had four players score in double figures, led by David Heck's 23 points on seven of 11 shooting. He also had a team-high seven rebounds.

"David was excited to come back and play in front of friends and family," Hunsaker said. "I thought he met the challenge on both ends of the floor. It was one of his better if not his best outing of the season."

Ryan Toolson added 17 while Joe Walker and Chris Bailey each had 12. As a team UV shot 57 percent from the field and out rebounded UTPA 26-24.

"We had a lot of balance," Hunsaker said. "I thought everybody contributed, played well and was instrumental in our victory."

Texas-Pan American shot 60 percent from the field for the game and was led by the play of Paul Stoll who had 23 points. Brian Burrell also had 17 points.

Utah Valley led for nearly the entire contest. The Broncs led 7-5 three minutes into the game before the Wolverines scored six straight points to lead 11-7 following a Richard Troyer jumper with 15:31 on the clock.

After Pan American tied the game at 11, UV went on a 7-0 run to take an 18-11 lead following a Toolson 3-pointer with 12:15 left until halftime.

The Broncs tied the game at 23 on two free throws by Colin Lien with 7:32 to play in the half. UV countered the UTPA run with a 7-2 run of its own to lead 30-25 after a dunk by Peter Brown three minutes later.

With the score tied at 32 just before halftime, Matt Peterson followed a Heck shot at the buzzer to give the Wolverines a 34-32 lead.

The closest Texas-Pan American got in the second half was one at 45-44 following a 3-pointer by Stoll with 13:19 left in the game. Five minutes later the Wolverines led 59-51 following a jumper by Toolson.

Utah Valley led by as many as 10 points at 72-62 with 1:48 to play and 76-66 with 1:09 to play.

Pan American made a late run to get within three at 79-76 on a Stoll 3-pointer with eight seconds to play but Heck then sank two free throws to seal the win.

The Wolverines return to the court on Thursday to host North Dakota State at 7 p.m. in the McKay Center. All students get in free with ID.