ALPINE, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's basketball picked up their first LSC win of the year and snapped a three game losing streak with a bigtime offensive effort on Tuesday against Sul Ross State.
The Patriots took down the Lobos 83-63 behind an offense that shot 46% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc as the Patriots buried 14 total three pointers in the big win.
Five players scored in double figures on the day as
Akok Machar scored 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 5-for-7 from eyond the arc.
Mareng Gatkuoth made his Patriots debut count in a big way as he also nailed five triples and scored 19 points to lead the bench scorers.
Both teams battled back and forth over the first eight minutes and change, with the Patriots holding a 12-11 lead as Machar buried a pair of three pointers early. At the 11:04 mark, Gatkuoth scored his first Patriots points, kickstarting an 8-2 run in which he scored all eight points.
With just over five minutes left in the first half,
Dontrell Hewlett connected on a triple of his own to build the Patriots lead to nine, starting a 24-10 run over the final moments of the half. In that run alone the Patriots made four three pointers to build a 20 point lead at the break.
The second half saw the Lobos start to build some early momentum, but four more three pointers from Gatkuoth,
Nikolas Gustavson, Machar, and Hewlett allowed the Patriots to hold them at arms length with 13:34 remaining.
The Patriots lead would climb all the way out to 27 points with 10:59 remaining in the contest, and it would only get lower than 20 points one time over the final minutes of the game as the Patriots held on for the big win.
Dontrell Hewlett added 14 points on the night to go along with six rebounds and seven assists.
Sam Phipps chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Nikolas Gustavson was the final double digit scorer for the Patriots as he scored 10 points on the day.
The Patriots will now set their sights on Western New Mexico for a Thursday afternoon contest. That game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT tipoff.
