Thorn’s career night leads Vaqueros past Le Moyne

EDINBURG – UTRGV’s DK Thorn had found himself in a bit of a shooting slump over the Vaqueros’ past four games. After starting the season 6-of-13 from beyond the arc during UTRGV’s first two contests, the graduate guard entered Monday’s contest shooting just 13.3% from 3-point range over the past four outings, going 2-of-15. 

Thorn shot himself out of that slump against Le Moyne on Monday, netting a career-high 24 points on 4-of-10 shooting from three to lead the Vaqueros past the Dolphins 97-77 during a non-conference contest at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg. 

“My teammates (were the biggest difference),” Thorn said. “I’ve been in a shooting slump the past couple of games. They just kept telling me to keep shooting the ball and that they’d rebound if I missed it. Just keep shooting. I just credit my teammates for giving me the confidence. I just play off them.”

Thorn’s night began as it had most of the past three games, finishing the first half with just four points while going 0-of-3 from beyond the arc. 

He turned it up a notch during the second half, erupting for 20 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three, including eight during a 31-13 run by the Vaqueros to close out the contest. 

The run by the Vaqueros helped put the Dolphins away, with UTRGV pulling away for the win after Le Moyne had cut it to just a two-point game. 

“Credit to them (Le Moyne),” UTRGV head coach Kahil Fennell said. “They did a tremendous job of fighting back in the second half. They’ve shown some tremendous ability in games. They’ve been in games where they’re losing and go on runs. They went on runs against UCONN. They went on runs against St. Bonaventure. They played Corpus Christi even in the second half. They can really play good basketball. They did the same thing tonight. On our end, we did a really bad job of matching their energy during that stretch. I have to do a much better job of putting us in positions to be successful over the course of 40 minutes … I did a bad job of that tonight. Credit to the guys for bailing me out and picking it up and going on a run of their own to right the ship so to speak. I think the focus and the energy just turned around in that last stretch.”

Thorn wasn’t the only UTRGV player to have a big night, with Howard Fleming coming up big during his first start of the season. 

The redshirt junior opened the scoring for the Vaqueros to set the tone, scoring the first two baskets of the game including a thundering dunk to give UTRGV the early lead. 

Fleming finished the game with a season-high 18 points during the start, also adding three steals. 

“I think for me it doesn’t matter if I’m starting or not honestly,” Fleming said. “Just being out there to compete for my teammates, I pretty much owe it to the guys with all the hard work we put in. We’re just sticking to what we know and honestly that’s it.”

“Howie Fleming is so valuable to us,” Fennell added. “He’s incredibly versatile as a player. Then attitude and toughness and just his willingness to do whatever it takes to win. He’s a winner. … He just cares about winning. He doesn’t care about being cool. He doesn’t care about making friends. He cares about doing what it takes to win. Off the bench or starting, he’s going to play the right way. For him to give us that kind of maturity and winning character, it just helps us.”

The Vaqueros finished with five players in double figures during the win, two of which came off the bench. Senior Cliff Davis netted 18 points during the contest, 15 of which came during the first half. 

Meanwhile, junior Trey Miller and fifth-year guard K.T. Raimey combined for 28 points off the bench, scoring 15 and 13, respectively. 

The victory improves UTRGV to 4-3 overall, including 2-0 at home this season. The game marked the first of a seven-game home stand by the Vaqueros, including back-to-back conference contests up next. 

The Vaqueros return to action at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 5, taking on Stephen F. Austin in their Southland Conference opener. 

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