Despite a significant effort on the offensive boards that led to 10 more second chance points, Seattle University could not take advantage of its opportunities in other areas, especially from the free throw line, as Texas-Pan American earned a 68-57 victory over the Redhawks Saturday night in a Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball contest at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
Jarell Flora (Bremerton, Wash.) shot 10-of-19 from the field as he finished with 25 points, just one point off his career high. Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.) hit four three-pointers as he ended the night with 18 points, while Emerson Murray (Vancouver, B.C.) and William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) were both forces on the glass, collecting nine rebounds and eight rebounds respectively.
After back-to-back layups by Flora closed the Redhawk deficit to 8-7 six minutes into the game, Janari Joesaar hit consecutive three-pointers to extend UTPA’s lead to seven. Seattle U answered with an 11-2 scoring run over the next four minutes, punctuated by a Umipig three-pointer, to go on top, 18-16, with 8:44 remaining in the first half.
Joesaar answered with a three-pointer of his own to give the Broncs the lead for good, and another of his long distance baskets added to the UTPA lead at 28-22. After the Redhawks cut their deficit to three, UTPA scored the final five points of the first half, with a traditional three-point play from Shaquille Boga giving the Broncs a 35-27 lead at halftime.
Flora hit a three-pointer early in the second half, but UTPA scored the next six points, four of them by Everett Osborne, to take its biggest lead of the night at 43-30. After a Umipig three-pointer again brought the Redhawks to within seven at 50-43 with 11:29 left in the second half, UTPA answered with another 6-0 scoring run to again extend its advantage to 13 at 56-43 with 7:35 to go in regulation.
The Redhawks came within seven one more time, but the Broncs made the vast majority of their free throws in the final three minutes to put the game away. During the night, UTPA hit 71.4 percent (15-of-21) of its free throw attempts, while Seattle U converted on just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) of its attempts from the charity stripe, its lowest free throw percentage in a single game since late January 2013.
Joesaar led the Broncs with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including 5-of-9 from behind the three-point line, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Boga collected 16 points, four rebounds, and six assists, while Shaquille Hines finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Elijah Watson added 10 points, five rebounds, and seven assists off the bench.
UTPA (9-17, 3-7 WAC) shot 52.3 percent (23-of-44) from the field, including 7-of-14 from behind the three-point line, while Seattle U hit 40 percent (22-of-55) of its field goal attempts, including 7-of-23 from behind the three-point line. The Redhawks pulled down 18 offensive rebounds as part of a 38-30 rebounding advantage, and each team committed 10 turnovers.
Seattle University (11-13, 4-6 WAC) will begin a three-game homestand Wednesday, Feb. 18, against UMKC, currently in second place in the WAC standings, beginning at 7 p.m. at KeyArena. Tickets for the game are available through Ticketmaster and the KeyArena Box Office during normal business hours.