ODESSA, Texas –Texas A&M International men's basketball took the court for their second of three road contests this week and fell in another heartbreaker, in overtime, to UT Permian Basin, 89-86.
 
The entire first half was as even as it could get, as neither team held a lead larger than five points.
 
TAMIU (11-10, 3-7 LSC) was the beneficiary of the two, five-point leads in the first half, leading the Falcons (14-9, 6-6 LSC) 34-29 at the half.
 
The Dustdevils held the lead nearly halfway through the second half, leading by as many as six points, until UTPB took a brief 51-50 lead at 11:31, a lead that lasted 23 seconds.
 
TAMIU held the lead again until the 6:32 mark when the Falcons took a then two-point lead, but the Dustdevils reopened a 65-63 lead with 5:03 remaining.
 
However, over the next 2:30, UTPB went on a 7-1 run to open a four-point lead of their own at 70-66.
 
TAMIU battled down the stretch to reopen its own four-point lead of 76-72 with 19 seconds remaining, but a Falcon three cut it to 76-75 and a 1-for-2 trip at the line made it 77-75 TAMIU, until UTPB hit a layup with one second left to send the game to overtime.
 
In the overtime, the Dustdevils took a brief 78-77 lead, but once the Falcons took their lead at 80-78, they never relinquished it and brought home the victory, fending off two TAMIU threes in the waning seconds of the overtime.
 
In the loss, TAMIU shot 28-for-54 (51.9%) from the floor, 6-for-18 (33.3%) from behind the arc and 24-for-33 (72.7%) from the free-throw line.
 
On the other end, UTPB shot 50%, going 27-for-54 and 8-for-16 (50%) from deep, but made it to the free-throws when needed, going 27-for-31 (87.1%).
 
Senior Greg Bowie II again led the Dustdevils, scoring 18 points with the benefit of 13-for-14 from the charity stripe.
 
Junior La-Quiem Walker followed with a 17-point performance, while fellow junior Tre Thomas and freshman Journee Phillips both chipped in 10 points each.
 
TAMIU concludes their road trip on Saturday, Feb. 12 against Angelo State in San Angelo, Texas for a 4 p.m. tip. The Dustdevils look to avenge an early season home loss to the Rams, who defeated TAMIU on a buzzer-beater three.