#19 UT Permian Basin men's basketball trailed 55-37 at halftime after Regis put on a shooting clinic, but a furious second half comeback that saw UTPB erase a 20-point Rangers lead and survive four overtimes propelled the Falcons into Tuesday night's NCAA Tournament South Central Regional with a 130-124 4 OT win.
The Rangers shot lights out early hitting 11 of their first 12 shots and while making 10-16 from 3-point, including seven of their first eight, in the first half on their way to an 18-point lead midway through.
An early bucket in the second half pushed the Regis lead to 20 when the Falcons began their comeback. An early 8-0 run by UTPB forced a Regis timeout just over three minutes into the second half. UTPB continued to chip away at the lead and at 11:26 the deficit was cut to just 10. With 10:10 to go a Sammy Allen got the lead to under double digits for the first time. UTPB would continue to chip away at the Regis lead. A basket by James McPherson made it an 88-87 game. Allen would hit a floater in the lane to give UTPB the 89-88 lead and their first lead of the game. Christian Little would hit a free throw to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Both teams would battle in overtime with Josh Morris fouling out early in the first overtime. Regis would take a 98-95 lead in the first overtime before Daeshon Francis would convert a basket and foul to tie the game with 57.8 seconds left and the game would go into a second overtime. Both teams would trade baskets in the second and third overtimes sending the game into a fourth. Andres Villa scored 6 points in the fourth overtime and Amari Bryant had a lay-up with the shot clock expiring to finally end the marathon at 130-124.
Francis finished the night with 43 points, a UTPB record and a First United Bank Center record. He went 18-19 from the free throw line and grabbed 10 rebounds in 59 minutes of action. Allen recorded his second triple-double of the season with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with 6 steals playing all 60 minutes for the Falcons. McPherson finished with 19 points in 59 minutes and Bryant had 11 points and five rebounds in 58 minutes.
Morris had 12 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes. Zeldric King added 14 points and four rebounds off the bench before fouling out and Villa had 12 points and four rebounds.
Jarrett Brodbeck went off for 34 points on 10-15 shooting from 3-point range for Regis, scoring 22 points in the first half to help Regis to the large halftime lead. McPherson locked him down late in the game, holding him to nine points in the second half and just three points in the 20 minutes of overtime.
UT Permian Basin combined to do the majority of its scoring in the lane, out-scoring Regis 81-38 in the paint. Despite playing an extra full half of basketball, UTPB turned the ball over just 13 times in the game, four below its season average. The Falcons shot 63.4 percent from the field in the second half and overtimes. Four UTPB starters played at least 58 of the game's 60 minutes.
The Falcons play regional host #11 West Texas A&M Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Canyon, Texas in the regional final to go to the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D.
