A painful season ended with a nightmarish finish.

Leading by five points with less than two minutes to go in the season finale at IPFW, it seemed as if the Broncs were on their way to their first road victory since beating Texas State in mid-January.

The Broncs were playing a tenacious defensive game and were taking advantage of a poor shooting night by the Mastodons. They led 54-49 with 1:41 to go -- and that's when the nightmare went into full effect.

While IPFW hit four free throws to climb back into the game, the Broncs were missing opportunities. Kano Edwards missed a layup and then Colin Lien missed a jumper.

IPFW's Scott DeWitt was fouled on the ensuing possession and calmly sank both free throws to give them a 55-54 lead. The Broncs had a chance to snatch the victory when Lien broke free for what appeared to be a layup, but he was fouled and unable to convert the shot.

The free throws were a misadventure as well, as Lien front-rimmed the first one and back-rimmed the latter -- thereby giving IPFW the game.

The loss was far more painful than most of the 23 other losses the Broncs suffered because of the margin and the way the game slipped away.

If there was anything positive to take away from the game it was that UTPA competed for 40 minutes on the road and clearly should have found a way to escape with the win. After losing their previous five road games by an average of 25.6 ppg, head coach Robert Davenport has something positive to think about.

Copyright (C) 2006 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.