EDINBURG — Bert Ogden Arena played host to a men’s basketball doubleheader featuring UTRGV and No. 4-ranked Texas on Monday.
The Vaqueros opened the show with a thrilling 78-77 win over Western Illinois on a buzzer-beating layup by Ahren Freeman. The Longhorns closed the show with a dominant 73-48 victory against Northern Arizona.
“My heart’s still racing from that,” Freeman said with a laugh. “I saw they were over-helping where I was supposed to pass the ball to, so I decided to make a play and it worked out.”
UTRGV senior Justin Johnson led the Vaqueros with a career-high 34 points on 50% shooting from the field. Big-man Dima Zdor led a second half surge by the Vaqueros as he finished with 18 points and 6-of-7 shooting from the line.
When the Vaqueros needed a bucket most, however, it was Freeman who received an inbounds pass trailing 77-76 with 3.4 seconds left. Freeman noticed WIU’s defense over-helping, saw a lane open and drove to the basket for the game-winning layup.
“It was a crazy game going back-and-forth. Coach told us this was going to be a tough one,” Johnson said. “We’ve just been preparing and fought for a hard-fought win and my guy here (Freeman) came through in the end.”
UTRGV improved to 3-2 overall with the victory. The home fans in attendance let the Vaqueros hear the support after their buzzer-beater and dished out heavy boos late in the game with Western Illinois at the free throw line.
“This game came out good and exciting. There were a lot of people in the stands and we hope they come back, want to see more and see this team improve,” UTRGV head coach Matt Figger said.
Texas (4-0) took the court after the Vaqueros in front of a crowd of 6,674 scattered with burnt orange. The No. 4-ranked Longhorns made easy work of Northern Arizona (2-4) with sharpshooting from range and thunderous dunks inside. Marcus Carr led the Longhorns with 17 points.
The crowd of 6,674 is the largest crowd to ever watch basketball in the Rio Grande Valley, topping a preseason game between the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics that drew 6,300 at Payne Arena in Hidalgo on Oct. 7, 2009.
“As important as the basketball game was for us tonight, it was also a special night off the court as we came down here to South Texas to play basketball in front of some of the best Longhorn fans in our state in the Valley. A lot of tradition here with basketball, a lot of tradition here with Longhorns fans and alumni, so I thought it was awesome,” Texas head coach Chris Beard said. “I’m so appreciative of the fans coming out. It was a great crowd that impacted the game. To stay all the way till the end even though the game was a little out of hand scoreboard-wise. That was a special night. This was serious for us. We wanted to come down here and embrace basketball in the Valley, so we’re so appreciative of everybody that made this game happen.”
The Vaqueros are back in action against Northern Arizona at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg. Tickets can be purchased at bertogdenarena.com. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming service.
UTRGV will hit the road after Thanksgiving for a matchup against No. 4 Texas at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.
