EDINBURG — Closing out games has been a challenge for the UTRGV’s men’s basketball team during conference play.
During three of their four conference losses, the Vaqueros have held leads late in the contest before seeing it disappear.
Wednesday was a different story. Led by big offensive nights from seniors Justin Johnson and Dima Zdor, the Vaqueros jumped out big early and held on for a comfortable 103-86 victory over the Abilene Christian Wildcats at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
“Just getting that first win gets that elephant off your back, no matter how it happened,” UTRGV head coach Matt Figger said. “Think about it. Abilene Christian, this is a team that beat Texas in an NCAA tournament game two years ago. They got everybody, almost literally everybody, back from that team. We’ve lost to two teams that had 24 wins and another with 26 wins. It’s not like we’re playing ducks. We’re playing pretty good teams. I want to make this program good. I want everyone to take notice that the Vaqueros can be good if we do what we’re supposed to.”
With the Wildcats cutting it as close as 11 late in the game, sophomore point guard Will Johnston helped ice the victory, going 6-of-6 from the line down the stretch.
Johnston finished with his second double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and dishing out 10 assists in his return from a one-game absence.
He connected with senior Dima Zdor for several of those assists, leading to a career night by the Vaqueros’ big man. Zdor finished with a career-high 24 points, adding eight rebounds, five blocks, three assists and three steals.
“It all goes back to my team,” Zdor said. “They put me in the position where I could have those big numbers tonight. We have a great point guard. Will (Johnston) did a great job with 10 assists. Five of those probably went to me, so that is already 10 points. Everybody put a great effort on defense and was in position. It was just easy to perform tonight because of what we accomplished as a team.”
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, adding five rebounds, three assists and one steal. His big offensive night helped him surpass the 1,000-point mark for his career, sitting at 1,005 after Wednesday.
“Doing this with the win, that is the most important thing,” Johnson said. “Hitting 1,000 points, I’m just happy. Coach Fig trusted me from the jump, and I was able to hit it. I didn’t even know I was going to hit it tonight. Just proud of myself and all the hard work.”
The 100-point performance marks the third time this season the Vaqueros have surpassed the century mark, each resulting in a win at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The victory snaps a four-game losing streak by the Vaqueros, while giving them their first Western Athletic Conference win of the year.
The Vaqueros (9-8, 1-4) wrap up their four-game homestand with their last non-conference contest of the year, hosting the Chicago State Cougars (4-14, 0-0) at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
