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NACOGDOCHES — Sophomore Jeromie Hill scored 16 points and junior Melvin Johnson III added 10 to lead UTSA to a 59-52 victory at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday evening at Johnson Coliseum.
Hill was 6-for-11 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, to help the Roadrunners improve to 10-7 overall, 3-1 in Southland Conference play and 6-1 following a loss this season. The Lumberjacks fell to 9-8 and dropped their first league outing of the year (3-1).
Senior Stephen Franklin nearly registered his third double-double of the year with eight points and a team-high eight rebounds, while juniors Michael Hale III and Kannon Burrage scored nine and eight, respectively.
UTSA built a 15-point lead early in the second half, but it had to hang on down the stretch to score their fourth win in Nacogdoches in the Brooks Thompson era.
After Franklin gave the Roadrunners an eight-point lead with a 3-pointer from the right wing, SFA’s Hal Bateman came up with consecutive steals and baskets to pull the Lumberjacks to within four (53-49) with 2:40 remaining.
At the other end, senior Sei Paye just beat the shot clock buzzer with a wild trey that banked off the glass and nearly rimmed out to put UTSA back in front by seven with just under two minutes left.
A Taylor Smith tip-in made it a five-point game with 1:03 on the clock, but SFA was forced to foul in the final minute.
The Lumberjacks put Franklin on the line with 38 seconds to go and he knocked down both to make it 58-51.
Jonathan King then was fouled on a layup attempt and he drained 1-of-2 to get it back to a two-possession contest, but sophomore Igor Nujic was hacked and connected on 1-of-2 and then drew a charge in the lane to give the ball back to UTSA with 13.9 ticks left to clinch the Roadrunners’ seventh win away from home this season.
Jereal Scott led Stephen F. Austin with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Smith added 10 and eight. SFA shot 43.8 percent (21-of-48) but made just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc (15.4 percent) and committed 17 turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners shot 44.9 percent (22-of-49) and were 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from downtown and 8-of-10 at the free-throw line.
UTSA built a 29-21 halftime lead behind eight points from Johnson III.
The Roadrunners then opened the second half with layups from Hill and Hale III and Hill followed by knocking down a trey from the right wing to give the Birds their largest lead of the night at 36-21.
SFA climbed back to within seven when a Desmond Haymon three made it 40-33 with 13:28 remaining.
UTSA again pushed the lead to double digits when Nujic found Hill down low for a slam dunk. He was fouled and the play and converted the free throw to give UTSA a 46-35 advantage.
Burrage drained a baseline jumper from just inside the arc to put the Birds up, 48-37, but Smith capped a 5-0 SFA run with a layup to get the Lumberjacks to within six.
Johnson III connected to give the Roadrunners a 50-42 edge, but Scott drained a short jumper to make it 50-44 at the 8:26 mark.
Both teams then endured a four-minute, eight-second scoreless drought until an Antonio Bostic free throw turned the scoreboard to 50-45.
However, Franklin answered at the other end with his second 3-pointer of the contest, this one from the right wing to push the lead to eight.
The Roadrunners won for the fourth time in their last five conference road games held in the month of January in running their all-time record against SFA to 23-16.
UTSA used an 8-3 run midway through the first half to build a 19-13 lead. The advantage grew to 10 when Johnson III found his way to the basket for a left-handed layup that made it 25-15 with 3:37 to play in the half.
Scott scored 12 of SFA’s 21 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting.
The Roadrunners return home to host Northwestern State (9-8, 2-1 SLC) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18.