On Nov. 30, the UTRGV Vaqueros fought until the last second in a home game against A&M Corpus Christi, with sophomore guard Will Johnston having a career night scoring 29 of the 89 total points, and having three assists and two rebounds.
The Vaquero Men’s Basketball team has been undefeated on home turf with a record of 4-0. UTRGV’s star player, guard Justin Johnson, played an action-packed game that came down to the wire.
Johnson said there was a lot of tension throughout the entire game and he knew the team wanted retribution after their last loss against A&M Corpus Christi.
“We were antsy, we were ready to get at them. We went to their house and they beat us pretty bad, so we had some animosity. We wanted to get them back and that’s what we did,” Johnson said.
Johnson put up 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Game changing players also include graduate student forward Diam Zdor, who in the 28 minutes played, put up 11 points, six rebounds, and three blocks. Junior forward Ahren Freeman put up 11 points and two rebounds in 13 minutes played. Freshman guard Adante Holiman put up 10 points, two assists, one steal, and one rebound in the 25 minutes played.
UTRGV Head Coach Matt Figger was proud of his team’s performance because both teams fought hard from beginning to finish.
“This was a win against an NCAA tournament team. This is a win over a team who is picked to win their league hands down, they have a really good team. They have a really veteran team. They didn’t lose the game, we won the game,” Figger said.
Vaqueros dominated at the free throw line, scoring 24 out of 32 possible points. The UTRGV team outscored A&M Corpus Christi’ 89-82.
Johnston said the game was played with a different perspective, due to it being against their rivals.
“It’s always a big win to win a game like this. They got us at their place, so we had to get them back to our place. It’s a rivalry game. It has a bit more to it, and I think we did a good job sticking together and getting this one,” said Johnston.
For more information on the men’s basketball team, visit goutrgv.com.
This is Isaiah Pena for Vaquero Radio.
