(Stephenville, Texas - Jan. 30, 2025) - The Trailblazers fought tough on Thursday night at Tarleton State falling 61-54 in a defensive battle against the Texans at Wisdom Gym.

"We played extremely hard. The first eight minutes of the game was perfect, we were defending, we were running our offense, but you got to be disciplined and do your job. I loved the fight in the final minute and I love the effort," head coach Jon Judkins said.

Utah Tech (6-15, 2-4 WAC) was led in scoring by senior guard Hakim Byrd with 18 points adding five assists, two rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes of action.

Fellow senior guard Noa Gonsalves reached double figures for the 16th time this season adding 12 points adding four rebounds and two steals.

Tarleton State (9-13, 4-3 WAC) was led by four Texans in double figures led by 14 points from sophomore guard Bubu Benjamin.

Dantwan Grimes came off the bench adding 13 points while Izzy Miles notched 10 points and Chris Mpaka tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

How It Happened
The Trailblazers jumped out to an early 10-5 lead after a layup by Ariyibi and a three-pointer by Gonsalves pushed the UT lead to 13-5.

An 8-0 run for the Texans over the next four minutes locked up the first half at 13 apiece before a three-pointer by Madiba Owona put the Trailblazers back in the lead.

A triple from Gonsalves kept UT in the driver seat leading, 19-18, but Tarleton State scored six straight points before a layup Gonsalves made it 24-21 in favor of the Texans at the break.

A layup from Mpaka extended the Texans lead to 38-27 midway through the second half before a quick 6-1 run for the Trailblazers cut the Tarleton lead down to six (39-33).

With the Texans continuing to lead by 12 (56-44) with 1:32 to play, three free throws and a layup by Gonsalves cut the contest to 56-49 and a late three-pointer and a layup from Owona got the Trailblazers as close as five, but they were unable to get any closer.

Numbers to Know

• The Trailblazers fell to 2-7 all-time against Tarleton State and 0-3 on the road against the Texans.
• Byrd reached double figures for the seventh time this season, including for the fifth time in his last six games. He went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line, the second-most free throws made this season only topped by going 9-for-9 vs. CSUN.
• It was Byrd's third game leading the Trailblazers in scoring joining back-to-back games in November, at Utah (Nov. 22) and vs. CSUN (Nov. 24).
• Beon Riley led the team with six rebounds, the 13th time this season he has led the team in boards.
• The Trailblazers shot 40.5 percent (17-42) from the field besting Tarleton State, who finished shooting 39.1 percent (18-46). The 18 field goals made and 46 field goal attempts were both season-lows for a Trailblazer opponent.
• UT also shot 25 percent (5-20) from three-point range and 62.5 percent (15-24) from the charity stripe.
• Gonsalves hit a pair of three-pointers for his 16th game this season with multiple triples.
• The Trailblazers committed 18 turnovers, second-most in a game this season, only topped by 19 at FIU (Dec. 30).

What's Next
The Trailblazers close out the road trip on Saturday afternoon traveling to UT Arlington (10-11, 3-4 WAC) at 1 p.m. MT at College Park Center.