Texas Border Business
OMAHA, Neb. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s basketball team opened up a five-game road trip with an 89-58 loss to the Creighton Bluejays on Friday at Chi Health Center Omaha.
Graduate student Jordan Jackson led the Vaqueros (4-6) with 13 points. Junior Javon Levi finished with 10 points and four assists. Sophomore Uche Dibiamaka scored nine points. Junior Rob McClain Jr. scored seven points with six rebounds. Junior Omaha-native Anthony Bratton finished with six points.
Ty-Shon Alexander led the Bluejays (8-2) with 22 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Zegarowski finished with 21 points. Mitch Ballock scored 11 points with five rebounds and four assists.
Jackson opened the game with a jumper to give the Vaqueros the lead. He went on to score the Vaqueros’ first seven points to make the score 12-7 after five minutes.
The Vaqueros trailed 24-14 after 11 minutes. That’s when Bratton started scoring, coming up with a layup to make the score 24-16, another layup to make the score 36-22, and a dunk to bring the Vaqueros within 40-24.
The Vaqueros trailed 52-26 early in the second half when a pair of Levi layups and a McClain three brought the Vaqueros to within 19. The Bluejays responded by scoring the next 12 points to push the game out of reach.
Sophomore Sean Rhea made his Vaqueros debut late in the game, coming up with a board and a bucket at the 6:34 mark.
UTRGV is back in action on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against Omaha as part of the Summit League/WAC Challenge. The WAC and Summit League are currently tied at 3 with two games remaining. The WAC won the challenge 6-3 last year.