OREM, Utah — Tarleton State Men's Basketball was unable to complete their second half comeback and ultimately fell, 79-72, to Utah Valley on Thursday night at the UCCU Center.

The Texans (14-15 overall, 5-11 WAC) dropped to the Wolverines (21-7, 11-4) for the third time this season in their first meeting in Orem. Both teams scored 44 in the second half, after UVU held a seven-point lead at the break. The Wolverines hold their half-game lead for the top spot in the WAC ahead of Utah Tech who also won tonight.

In Dior Johnson's first game back since Jan. 21 at UT Arlington, Johnson led the Texans with 23 points. He shot 8-for-20 from the floor and made a pair of triples. The junior grabbed a career-high seven rebounds. He also dished off a team-best four assists with Jordan Mizell and DJ Dormu. He led the team in scoring for the 11th time this season, scoring 20 or more for the 11th time as well.

Ocypher Owens notched his first double-double as a Texan with a game-high 13 rebounds and added 10 points. The senior also notched a pair of blocks and shot two-for-three from beyond the arc. Freddy Hicks was the other Texan to score in double figures with 12, his second-consecutive game in double digits after starting the season with 12 in the first 14 games. Hicks broke the D1 era career assists record with a pair to pass Shakur Daniel for the most in D1 era, now with 188. Hicks leads the Texans in 11 categories in the D1 era.

The game started slowly with neither team scoring for the almost three minutes. Andy Sigiscar brought down his first dunk of the game to put the Texans on the board first. The two teams went back-and-forth over the next few minutes with the Texans down by three with 13 minutes to go. Owens drained his first of two first half triples to tie the game at 10 with 12:16 to go in the half.

Utah Valley controlled the lead for the remainder of the half. The Wolverines used a 10-0 run to break out to a 10-point lead. After a Texan bucket, UVU used a 7-0 burst to take the biggest lead of the night, 15, with 6:23 left. A 7-2 run with all seven Texan points from Hicks brought the Texans within seven with under two minutes to go. Johnson finished the half with two of his six first half points to send the game into the break with Utah Valley leading, 35-28.

Utah Valley scored four-straight to begin the second half to up their lead to 11 in the first two minutes. The Wolverines lead grew to 13 just under three minutes into the half before the Texans started to claw back. Trailing 45-32, the Texans ran off eight-straight to force a timeout and bring the game within five. Johnson started the scoring with a triple in the corner. Kaia Isaac followed him up with his first of three second half triples to bring the UVU lead down to seven. Dormu punctuated the run with a driving layup forcing a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, after a UVU made free throw, a 5-0 Texan run brought the game back within one. Hicks nailed a bucket followed by another Isaac triple. After the Wolverines answered with a three of their own, Isaac was still feeling it and knocked down his second in a minute and a half span to bring the game back within a point. 

The game stayed close over the next several minutes while Johnson scored 11-straight Texan points. With the Texans down by two, Dormu found the bottom of the net to tie the game at 61 with 7:20 to go, the first tie since early in the first half. The Texans were never able to take the lead in the final seven minutes, but their deficit never grew to more than five over the next several minutes. A pair of made Mizell free throws and a Johnson driving layup brought the game to one, 68-67, with 2:53 to go.

In the final three minutes, Utah Valley grew its lead to as many as eight and the Texans were outscored, 11-5. The Wolverines made three of their four free throws in the final thirty seconds to ice the game and secure their 11th victory of the season, 79-72.

Tarleton State shot 40.9 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from the three-point line. The Texans made 27 shots with eight of them coming from deep. The Texans lost the turnover battle, 11-9, for just the second time in WAC play this season and snapped their 36-game streak with at least 10 forced turnovers. For the first time in seven games, the Texans won the rebound battle, 38-36. Utah Valley shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from deep.
 
The Texans will continue to the final leg of their road trip on Saturday night in Riverside. Tip off is set for 8 p.m. CT and 6 p.m. local at the Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Events Center against California Baptist.