Dec. 3—The UTPB men’s basketball team will return to Lone Star Conference action this week when the Falcons face Texas A&M International and Texas A&M-Kingsville at home.
The Falcons (4-1 overall, 1-0 in Lone Star Conference) are coming off a short Thanksgiving break from last week after UTPB defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State in a nonconference road game in Durant, Okla.
UTPB will face Texas A&M International (5-4, 1-0) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday before facing Texas A&M-Kingsville (4-3, 0-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday with both games at the Falcon Dome.
The Falcons enter this week on a three-game winning streak with their last loss coming against NCAA Division I UTEP back on Nov. 12 in an exhibition game in El Paso.
But it hasn’t been an easy winning streak for UTPB as all three games have been decided by three points or less.
Free throws ended up making the difference in last week’s victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State as UTPB’s Dario Domingos hit two from the charity stripe with 11 seconds remaining to help the Falcons escape.
“We work a lot on free throws,” Tolin said at Monday’s press conference at the D. Kirk Edwards Human Performance Center. “We don’t take breaks on those during practice. We do a lot of free throw shooting. If you look at the last three or four years in the Lone Star Conference we’ve been near the top in free throw shooting. We shot 78-90 percent from the line last year. Making 27 of 34 free throws on the road can make a difference in the game.”
>> WEIRD SCHEDULING: In the past, UTPB began Lone Star Conference play in December.
This year, they started conference play a little bit earlier, beginning with a 65-62 win against Angelo State back on Nov. 23.
It will have been 12 days since UTPB’s last conference game by the time the Falcons take the court against the Dustdevils.
“That wasn’t ideal and we put a lot of emphasis on beating Angelo State,” Tolin said of the scheduling. “It needed to happen. I had been here long enough to know that we don’t like Angelo State so we needed to win that game so to put an emphasis on that and then turn around and play a nonconference game which was harder but that goes back to figuring out ways to win which we did last Tuesday. It wasn’t ideal.”
>> CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: UTPB also survived an 81-78 win against University of the Southwest on Nov. 19.
While Tolin would prefer the easier victories, he’s glad his team has been able to find ways to win.
“Our guys have done a good job of closing out games and that’s what good teams do,” Tolin said. “We’ve been fortunate. … I think it’s been a positive that we’ve been able to find a way to close out close games on the road.”
>> TAMIU: Like UTPB, Texas A&M International is coming off a close win against a school from the Great American Conference as the Dustdevils defeated Oklahoma Baptist University 68-64 Saturday in Dallas at the Dallas Baptist University Thanksgiving Classic.
Texas A&M International’s lone conference win was a 65-50 win against Texas A&M-Kingsville Nov. 23 in Laredo.
>> A&M-KINGSVILLE: Similar to UTPB, the Javelinas are also coming off a close win against Southeastern Oklahoma State, winning 77-75 Saturday in Durant, Okla.
>> HOME SWEET HOME: Tolin is looking forward to being at home for this week’s games.
“Obviously, being back at home is a good thing,” Tolin said. “We’re excited about it and to have two conference games. I thought our guys looked good against Angelo State as well and understood the assignment. It’s the same thing against Texas A&M International. We have to understand that every game against a Lone Star Conference opponent is crucial.”
