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SAN ANTONIO — Sophomore Jordan Sims went 7-for-7 from behind the 3-point line en route to a career-high 26 points, as UTSA tied a school record with 17 3-pointers in a 115-49 rout of Jarvis Christian on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners ran their record to 13-7 on the season in winning their fourth consecutive outing (seven of eight overall) and they matched the 17 treys registered against Stephen F. Austin in 1997 and East Central in 2008. Meanwhile, the NAIA Bulldogs fell to 4-13.
Sims was 8-for-8 from the floor overall and drained a career-best seven treys in demolishing his previous bests of four 3-pointers and 14 points set in the Cameron victory on Nov. 27, 2011. The El Mirage, Ariz., native also was 3-for-4 from the free-throw line and he grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
Juniors Melvin Johnson III (23) and Kannon Burrage (12) and sophomore Jeromie Hill (18) joined Sims in double figures to help UTSA to its 22nd win in the last 25 non-conference home games.
Johnson III was 5-for-10 from downtown in posting his sixth 20-point game of the season, all of which have come in the last 11 contests. The Dallas native also reached 974 career points to move past Lloyd Williams (957) into 14th place on UTSA’s all-time scoring chart.
Hill's 18 came on 7-of-12 shooting, while Burrage made 3-of-5 from the floor and 5-of-7 at the charity stripe to help the Roadrunners post their largest margin of victory of the season and top 100 points for the first time since a 103-80 victory against East Central on Nov. 18, 2009.
“I’m really proud of the guys because they played very composed tonight,” head coach Brooks Thompson said. “They’ve learned a lesson. When they came out and over-looked Corpus, they didn’t play well. Tonight, they knew they had a task at hand and they accomplished it. The guys were crisp offensively and were really sharing the ball. In games like this, sometimes guys just want to get the points themselves, but they played unselfish basketball and that’s something we can build on.”
All 11 Roadrunners that suited up scored and UTSA shot 61.2 percent (41-of-67) for the game, including 17-of-31 (54.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The Birds forced an opponent season-high 26 turnovers, 13 on steals, and they converted those into 37 points. UTSA also dished out 27 assists, scored 46 points in the paint, received a season-best 54 points off the bench and out-rebounded Jarvis Christian 43-32.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners held the Bulldogs to an opponent school-record low of 23.8 percent (15-of-63) shooting, including 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) from long distance. Cedrick Richardson led the way with 22 points on the strength of a four 3-pointers and an 8-for-9 night at the line.
UTSA wasted little time building a comfortable lead, blitzing out of the gates to an 8-0 lead. It soon was extended to 16-2 through the first six minutes and 42 seconds and Jarvis Christian hit just one of its first dozen shots.
Junior Michael Hale III helped the lead grow to 29-10 midway through the half after he converted a steal by sophomore Tyler Wood into a layup and then drilled a three from the corner off an inbounds pass from Wood on the next possession.
Senior Stephen Franklin, who posted nine points and five boards, put back his own missed jumper and then Burrage went coast-to-coast for a layup to push the lead to 36-16 with 8:18 remaining in the first.
Sophomore Ryan Whitehead came up with a steal and found Johnson III for a one-handed, fast-break slam dunk to make it 41-17 two minutes later. Johnson III then got hot from downtown, as he drained three 3-pointers in the final three minutes to give UTSA a 54-26 halftime advantage.
The Roadrunners blistered the nets for 57.1 percent (20-of-35), including 9-of-18 (50 percent) from beyond the arc, and they converted 16 Bulldogs turnovers into 23 points in the first stanza.
Johnson III had 19 points in the half on 5-of-9 shooting from long distance and Hill posted 13 behind a 5-for-8 performance from the floor.
The 54 points surpassed the 49 scored in the Texas State victory last Saturday as the highest scoring first half of the season.
UTSA continued to pad its lead early in the second half, as a 16-4 run over the first 4:24 created a 70-30 advantage. The Roadrunners tallied 61 points in the second half — the most in either half this season — and led by as many as 69 points in the final minutes, but they fell two points shy of the school record for largest margin of victory (68) set in the 136-68 win against East Central on Nov. 22, 2008.
The Roadrunners return to Southland Conference play on Saturday when they host Sam Houston State (8-12, 2-4 SLC) at 4 p.m. UTSA defeated the Bearkats, 62-60, on Jan. 8 in Huntsville.