TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season in an 85-72 defeat at the hands of UAFS on Thursday night to move to 7-1 on the year.
 
#25 UT Tyler clawed their way back into the game after falling behind by 13 with 11:00 remaining on the clock to tie the game up at 67-67, but were held scoreless in the final 2:30 minutes of play. Five Patriots reached double-double digit scoring figures, led by 18 points from graduate student Micah Fuller and 13 points respectively from senior Da'Zhon Wyche and junior Milan Szabo.
 
UAFS was able to put away UT Tyler in that final 2:30 minutes of action to cap off a second half in which the Lions scored 48 points on 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) shots from the field. The second half provided a stark contrast from the first 20 minutes of play that featured a maximum of six points of separation for either side and ended with a 37-34 mark in favor of UAFS.
 
UAFS maintained the advantage coming out of the halftime break and then finally broke the game open by double-digits at the 56-46 mark with 11:41 remaining in the contest. The Lions tacked on another three point make from Matthew Wilson, who joined teammate Evan Anderson with 21 points on the night, before the Patriots began their march back.
 
UT Tyler went on a 21-8 run to finally tie the ballgame back up at 67-67 with 5:09 remaining in the game. Those 21 points for the Patriots in a little over five minutes of action came from a variety of scorers as the UT Tyler offense finally got it's footing for a bit in a second half in which they would end up going just 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from the field.
 
The Patriots kept it to a one-possession ballgame all the way down to the 2:15 mark with the score at 75-72 in favor of UAFS, but couldn't overcome the ice-cold shooting in the final two minutes and counting of the game. UAFS knocked down 19-of-23 (82.3 percent) of their free throw attempts for the contest, including eight makes coming down the stretch in the final 2:15 of play.
 
UT Tyler finished the game 20-for-53 (37.7 percent) from the field on the night and totaled just 20 points in the paint. UAFS on the other hand shot 57.4 (31-of-54) from the floor and scored 44 of their points inside against UT Tyler.
 
Sophomore Patrick Samoura went for his second game with 10 or more point in a Patriot uniform to help the offensive effort with 12 points on the night. Senior Soloman Thomas was the fifth Patriot to finish in double-digit scoring totals with 10 points.
 
Wyche led the rebounding effort for the Patriots with five board while graduate student Eysan Wiley and sophomore Finn Fleute each finished with four. The Patriots lost the rebounding battle for just the second time this season by a 36-to-22 margin.
 
UT Tyler will continue their homestand on Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. tip against Oklahoma Christian.