RGV Capsules: SPI tourney begins today for Broncs

EDINBURG – Early season victories over Missouri or No. 18 Mississippi State might not mean much to other programs around the country, but at the University of Texas-Pan American a celebration might break out.

Exaggeration aside, it could mean national exposure for UTPA. Not many outside of the Rio Grande Valley know much about the program.

At the very least, a win would make the Broncs feel a little better about their 0-3 start.

UTPA takes on Missouri at 1 p.m. today in Columbia, Mo. and Mississippi State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Starkville, Miss.

These games are considered the first two rounds of the South Padre Island Invitational. The final two rounds will be played next Friday and Saturday at the Island’s convention center.

“I think these are the kinds of games that are fun for the players and fun for the coaches,” Broncs coach Ryan Marks said. “Obviously, playing nationally recognized teams in great venues is always exhilarating. Even though our record doesn’t show it, we have gotten better in every facet of the game. We want to continue to do that.

“I think our team is cognizant of the fact that we could play very well the next two games and not come away with wins.”

Missouri (1-0), an Elite Eight team from a season ago, and a Bulldogs team (0-1) ranked in the Top 25 to begin the year provide tall tasks for a team with a 331 RPI. The Broncs are taking an anything-can-happen approach.

“This is a great opportunity,” Broncs sophomore guard Nick Weiermiller said. “We really don’t have anything to lose against both those teams. We are going to go out there and try and play our game.

“We are going to try and keep it close and give ourselves chance to win. Hopefully, we can pull both of them off.”

The Broncs arrive at today’s game after a 77-55 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday. Despite the setback, Weiermiller said he has seen vast improvement in the team. His coach agrees.

“From an offensive standpoint, I think the guys are more comfortable playing together,” Marks said. “Against Corpus Christi I thought we had a lot of good shots we just didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. But I thought our offensive understanding continued to grow.”

FREE THROWS: Missouri is 3-0 all time vs. UTPA. The Tigers last beat the Broncs 78-57 in 2000. …Under coach Mike Anderson, the Tigers are 31-0 at home against non-conference opponents, 27 of which were by double-digit margins…. Mississippi State is expected to drop in the polls today after losing 88-74 to Rider on Friday.

Peter Rasmussen covers UTPA athletics for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com.

Basketball

Vipers drop exhibition in SPI

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers jumped out to a 36-23 first-quarter lead, but the Austin Toros outscored the Vipers 60-39 over the next two quarters to beat the Vipers 101-98 in a preseason contest Saturday at the South Padre Island Convention.

The Vipers jumped out to a 13-4 lead with 8:17 left in the first quarter. Mike Harris started the game with a fade-away jumper and Garrett Temple followed with a pair of three-pointers. Harris also had a slam dunk that nearly brought the basket down. Temple and Harris stayed hot, scoring 13 and 11 points respectively, while the Vipers built a 36-23 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Toros came roaring back in the second quarter as Alonzo Gee and Curtis Jerrells combined for 17 of their 30 first half points to tie the game 54-54 at halftime. The Vipers led throughout the entire game until there was 15 seconds left in the second quarter when Kenny Dawkins fouled Jerrells in the act of shooting a three-pointer. He made all three shots to give the Toros a 54-52 lead, but Mike Harris hit a lay-up with four seconds left to knot it up.

With 8:38 remaining in the third quarter, Harris hit a free throw to bring the Vipers within 60-59, but Russell Carter hit a three-pointer 18 seconds later to spark a 17-4 run until the 3:00 mark to make it 78-67. Temple hit a pair of free throws and Henry Dugat followed with a three-pointer and Mikell Gladness dunked the ball to bring the Vipers back within four. Lewis Clinch responded with a long two-pointer and a three-pointer in the final 1:05, but Dugat hit a driving lay-up at the buzzer to make it 83-75 Toros after the third quarter.

Third-year Viper Stanley Asumnu started the fourth quarter with four baskets to keep the game close as they got within 93-90 with under four minutes to play. The Toros hit a pair of buckets to take a 97-90 lead, but Haminn Quaintance and Antonio Anderson responded with baskets to make it 97-94 Toros with 1:51 to play. An errant Austin pass gave the Vipers the ball back, but Dwayne Jones swatted an Anderson dunk attempt. Jerrells missed a shot to set up a Kenny Dawkins drive down the lane.

Jones tried to block that shot as well, but it was goal tending, making the score 97-96 Toros with 50.35 seconds remaining. Jerrells hit a jumper 19 seconds later, but Dawkins responded with a driving lay-up. After a foul, Gee hit both free throws to make it 101-98 Toros with 8.5 seconds left. Ernest Scott had a three-point shot partially blocked at the buzzer to end the game.

The Vipers open the season on Friday, Nov., 27 against the Toros at the Austin Convention Center at 7:30 p.m.

-- Vipers Services

Hockey

Shootout gives Bees first win over Odessa

HIDALGO – It was hard to tell after the Killer Bees’ 4-3 shootout win over Odessa on Saturday night just what they were saying in the dressing room, though the emotion was obvious. In the span of 10 minutes, the sound system played both Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and rap, making simple conversations difficult to impossible. This was happening while players were ribbing each other for minor and petty offenses as they enjoyed each other’s company after a victory.

It certainly was different from the emotions the last two times the Bees played league-leading Odessa, when they lost by a combined 12-2.

“That was a really big game,” said forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, who scored the only goal in the last round of the shootout. “Obviously, they’ve had a great start to the year and we’ve had two tough games in their building already, so we really needed to come through and get those points. It’s a big step looking forward.”

The way the Bees (8-5-2) took that step wasn’t exactly the recommended way to beat a team like Odessa.

They fell behind 2-0 just 11:14 into the first period, rallied to take a 3-2 lead into the third but spent 1:51 of the third trying to kill a 5-on-3 Jackalopes advantage. Then, at the 11:30 mark of the final period, they allowed Collin Circelli to tie the game and eventually send it to a shootout.

But Goeckner-Zoeller’s shootout goal past Odessa’s Juha Toivonen and Andy Franck’s 37 saves plus five stops in the shootout, gave them their second win of the weekend. The first one, a 5-2 win Friday night over Texas was never in doubt.

Saturday’s, though, was a bit different. And maybe more rewarding to the players.

“That’s not the way we drew it up,” Franck said. “But we’ll take anything right now. A win’s a win right now.”

During those first two meetings against Odessa, the Bees were thoroughly outplayed and, though they progressed the second time, didn’t look anything like a team capable of competing with the Jackalopes. On Saturday night, they closer resembled a group that could at least stand up to Odessa.

The progress hasn’t been missed by coach Chris Brooks.

“It’s coming. It’s coming,” Brooks said. “It’s like climbing a mountain. You can’t get halfway up and then fall halfway back down. You need to continue to take those steps and steps and steps.”

ICING: The Bees wore their black jerseys Saturday night. Odessa had been told earlier to bring its white uniforms because Saturday was supposed a night the Bees were going to wear special jerseys to be auctioned after the game. The promotion, however, had earlier been postponed until Dec. 11.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com.