Vaqueros enter the WAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed
UTRGV men’s basketball (9-9, 2-5) drops their regular season finale 58-69 against Tarleton State (10-10, 5-7) on Senior Night Saturday at Fieldhouse.
Before the game, UTRGV Athletics celebrated the accomplishments of guards Nick Mora, Rob McClain Jr., Javon Levi, Chris Freeman and forwards Jeff Otchere and Anthony Bratton as they played their final collegiate game at home.
Interim Head Coach Jai Steadman put Levi, Mora, McClain, Bratton and Otchere in his starting five to honor them with Freemen on the bench sitting out the game due to an undisclosed injury.
Both teams kept in line with the frenetic up-and-down pace as neither could break away with a substantial lead in the first half.
In the waning seconds before the halftime buzzer, Levi had the ball at the top of the key. Levi used a pick set from Bratton and stepped into a three after his defender, sophomore guard Javontae Hopkins, went under the screen to tie the game at 28 before the buzzer sounded.
Midway through the second half, both teams continued to trade blows as the game was tied at 42.
The Texans were finally able to break free after a sophomore forward Konstantin Dotsenko three-pointer that sparked a 22-10 run to push their lead to 12, the largest of the night.
Dotsenko would finish the game with 15 points on 54% shooting and two assists.
The Vaqueros would try to mount a late comeback with a Levi jumper and a pair of junior forward Marek Nelson free-throws to cut the lead to single digits 56-65.
Tarleton State iced the game by going to the hot hand of junior guard Montre Gipson to hit key free-throws to put the game out of reach and earn the victory on the road.
Gipson led all scorers with 24 points on 9-12 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.
The Texans in their first season in Division I and under Head Coach Billy Gillispie, finished with a .500 record winning four of their last six games.
Levi finished with a typical stat-stuffing performance that we have come to expect from the two-time Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Defensive Player of the Year in his four years on the team with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
In a postgame news conference via Zoom, a despondent Levi spoke on his time with the program and the disappointment with not earning the win in his final game at home.
“It’s been real fun,” he said. “It’s improved over the years, as far as fans, us as a team, as a program. I’m definitely going to remember this place forever. It’s just pretty bad this is how I have to remember my last night.”
Now headed into the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas as losers of five straight, Steadman iterated that the tournament gives the team a chance to start anew and make a deep run.
“They believe, I believe, and I don’t want anybody in that locker room that doesn’t believe to go with us,” Steadman said. “I told them, ‘Let’s go.’ Everybody’s head was up, we’re all 0-0, be ready, we’re going to have three short practices and be ready.”
At the conclusion of tonight’s WAC games, Grand Canyon University and Utah Valley University were named regular season champions with a conference record 9-3 and 9-4, respectively.
New Mexico State University finished WAC play with a 7-6 record to earn the third seed, ahead of California Baptist University, the four seed, and Seattle U, the five seed.
The Vaqueros, the lowest seed in the tournament, will have a quarterfinal matchup against New Mexico State, who they lost to earlier this week 51-69, at 8 p.m. March 11 at the Orleans Arena.
The tournament will run from March 11-13 and can be watched on ESPN+.
Twitter: @Radio_Rubio
