ODESSA, TX---The Mustangs made the short trip over to Odessa, TX on Sunday in an exhibition contest with University of Texas-Permian Basin. Despite an extremely slow start for the Mustangs, USW tied the game late, but were unable to come away with the victory as they were defeated by the Falcons 84-77. 

"We played a great overall game against a very tough D2 opponent and one of the best in the Lone Star Conference." said Head Coach Cory Hitchcock following Sunday's exhibition loss to UTPB. " I'm proud of the guys for their grit and fight. We were down 22-4 in the first half and tied it up 72-72 in the second half. We will continue to work on the details and clean some things up before we start conference. One thing I would like to focus on as a group is coming out with some energy from the start. Lately we have come out flat and turned it on in the 2nd half. We need to play two halves of basketball if we want to turn the corner. This is a special group!"

Coach Hitchcock was correct in the Mustangs slow starts as of late. USW was down by 18 at one point in the 1st half before they made some adjustments and locked down their defense. Joshua Harris led the Mustangs in scoring with 23 points. The senior was 5-10 from the field and 12-15 from the FT-line. Harris also grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out 3 assists and had 2 blocks in the game. Emmanuel McNeil continued his strong season with 16 points of his own and 12 rebounds for his 4th double-double of the young season. McNeil played 38 of the 40 minutes which was a season high for the junior. 

Newcomer Collin Hill made a big impact in the game as the junior college transfer from DeAnza College scored 17 points on 3-11 shooting. Hill was 9-9 from the charity stripe and also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. 

The Mustangs are on the road this Wednesday as they travel to Durango, CO to take on Division 2 opponent Fort Lewis College. The Mustangs then host New Mexico Highlands on Saturday afternoon in another mid-season exhibition.