EDINBURG — On a night dedicated to their late former head coach Lew Hill, the Vaqueros stopped a four-game losing streak with an 93-79 victory over the Lamar Cardinals on Wednesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
UTRGV opened the contest with a video tribute to the Hill, who died unexpectedly Feb.7, 2021. A moment of applause followed to honor the Vaqueros former head coach, with an empty chair sporting a No. 3 UTRGV jersey, Hill’s college number, placed at halfcourt.
“Every one of us in that locker room, we’re all in that locker room because of Lew Hill,” UTRGV head coach Matt Figger said. “He impacted all of us. We’re all in that locker room together for one reason or another. … No one wants to take over a job for someone like that (Lew Hill). All I’ve wanted to do is thank him and his family for allowing me the opportunity to be the head basketball coach at UTRGV.”
Trailing the Cardinals by two early during the second half, the Vaqueros erupted on a 22-6 run sparked by a barrage of 3-pointers from Xavier Johnson and Justin Johnson to take a 14-point advantage with 10:57 remaining.
The Cardinals cut the deficit to 11 with 7:35 remaining, but the Vaqueros answered with a 7-2 run capped by a monstrous slam by Adewunmi, giving UTRGV a 16-point lead.
Marek Nelson put the exclamation point on the Vaqueros’ victory with an alley-oop finish off an assist from Xavier Johnson with 1:24 left, essentially sealing the Vaqueros’ second Western Athletic Conference victory of the season.
“We played great offense,” Figger said. “I think we kept them off balance. Just getting the win. We felt like we should have had one last Wednesday. Murphy’s law came into play. What could go wrong did go wrong. … It’s just good to get a win. Now we got a chance to go play them (Abilene Christian) at their place. Our kids know we can win if we do things the right way.”
The Vaqueros had three players score 20 or more points, led by Nelson’s first career double-double, tallying a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Justin Johnson added 24 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double, while Xavier Johnson chipped in 22 points and a season-high seven assists. Ricky “Doc” Nelson piloted the offense, dishing out a career-high 14 assists.
C.J. Roberts finished with a team-high 26 points for the Cardinals. Lincoln Smith chipped in 18 points and 7 rebounds.
“It was fun out there tonight,” UTRGV forward Marek Nelson said. “It was bigger than basketball tonight. Obviously, I had a pretty good game. I think a lot of guys did a lot of good things tonight. But tonight wasn’t really about us. It was about the legacy of coach Hill.”
The Vaqueros (7-15, 2-8) return to action at 3 p.m. Saturday, taking on Abilene Christian (15-7, 6-5) at the Moody Coliseum in Abilene.
