California State University, Bakersfield dominated the Vaqueros 75-69 tonight in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Roadrunners led for most of the game during tonight’s home opener. With the loss, the Vaqueros receive an overall record of 9-9 and 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.
The first quarter started off with UTRGV leading quickly at the beginning of the match. Graduate guard Tyson Smith put the score 8-5 in favor of the Vaqueros with a jumper, followed by forward senior Terry Winn III who made a couple of free throws halfway through the first half.
Winn scored four free throws putting his team 24-21, but the Roadrunners made seven points at the end of the half, taking a lead of 10 over UTRGV.
By the second half, the Roadrunner led the score 70-54. At the end of the last half, the Vaqueros scored nine consecutive points. Ten seconds before the buzzer, sophomore guard Javon Levi scored a 3-pointer.
The match finished with a victory for CSU, Bakersfield over UTRGV, who got close, but could not close the gap.
Head Coach Lew Hill said the score was close because of the player’s attitude in the very last minutes of the game.
“The guys never quit,” Hill said. “They played hard and then we just talked about never quitting, but we just should had been like that a lot earlier.”
The next match for the Vaqueros will be at 7 p.m. Saturday against Grand Canyon University at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
UTRGV freshman guard Uche Dibiamaka scores a layup at tonight’s home opener against California State University, Bakersfield. The Vaqueros came up short 75-69.
