UTRGV Men's Basketball Edged by Grand Canyon

http://www.goutrgv.com Jan. 12, 2019 – EDINBURG, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball team fell to Grand Canyon University (GCU) 69-65 on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. Senior Terry Winn III led UTRGV (9-10, 1-2 WAC) with a career-high 23 points on a career-high tying 8-of-15 shooting plus 7-of-10 from the line with four rebounds. Junior Jordan Jackson scored 11 points with three steals. Sophomore Javon Levi scored eight points with six rebounds, eight assists and three steals. UTRGV hit its first 14 free throws while finishing 20-for-24 (.833) from the line. Damari Milstead led GCU (10-7, 3-1 WAC) with 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Michael Finke scored 13 points with five rebounds. Carlos Johnson scored 11 points with six rebounds. Oscar Frayer finished with 11 points and five rebounds. Down 36-28 at halftime, UTRGV hit six of its first seven shots and all eight of its free throws to go on a 20-7 run over the first six and a half minutes of the second half. Levi scored six points during the run, including the layup that put UTRGV up 48-43. GCU scored the next five points to tie the game and was within two at 54-52 before UTRGV went on an 8-2 run to push its lead to 60-52 on a Winn jumper. UTRGV was still up eight on a Winn dunk that made the score 64-56 with 5:03 remaining, but GCU went on a 13-1 run while scoring the last 10 points of the game to come from behind and win. UTRGV and GCU matched each other shot for shot over the first 13 minutes, as the game was tied at 19. A Winn layup and a pair of Levi free throws gave UTRGV its largest lead of the half and just the second two-possession lead of the game overall, at 23-19. Milstead responded with back-to-back threes and then hit another three with four seconds left as GCU closed the half on a 17-5 run to take a 36-28 lead. UTRGV is back in action on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Utah Valley.