| March 12, 2004 Hurd scores 23 to lead UTSA to Southland Conference Tournament title and automatic berth in NCAA Tournament |
SAN ANTONIO - The Southland Conference's Player of the Year LeRoy Hurd lived up to his regular season accolades, scoring 23 points to lead the UTSA Roadrunners to a 74-70 victory over the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in the championship game of the SLC Tournament played before a boisterous crowd of 3,257 at the UTSA Convocation Center.
With the win, the 19-13 Roadrunners advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the the third time in school history, with past appearances in 1988 and 1999. UTSA will find out on Sunday at 5 p.m. when the NCAA Tournament brackets are announced where and who they will play next week at the Tournament.
Hurd, who was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, was joined in double figures by Justin Harbert with 16 points, while Rapheal Posey added 13. Hurd was joined on the All-Tournament team by Harbert and freshman point guard Kurt Attaway, who scored eight points on Friday.
Stephen F. Austin, which ended the season with a 21-9 record, was led by Marcus Clark and Hank Rivers with 16 points apiece, while Antonio Burks added 12.
"To be able to close out the Tournament in this fashion is a dream come true," said UTSA coach Tim Carter, who also led the Roadrunners to the 1999 NCAA Tournament, where the Roadrunners lost to eventual national champion Connecticut by a 91-66 count in a first round game. "Im so proud of the effort of these players this season. There has been a lot of sacrifice by players and coaches on this team to help make it successful, and it has paid off. We are going to enjoy this for a couple of days and then start getting ready for next week."
UTSA never trailed after grabbing a 12-11 lead on a basket by Hurd with 12:22 to play in the first half. Behind 12 points by Harbert, UTSA led 35-31 at halftime. Rivers kept the Lumberjacks in the game with 14 points and nine rebounds over the first 20 minutes.
The Roadrunners, who won their seventh straight game, opened the second half with an 11-6 run and led 46-37 on a 3-point field goal by Hurd with 15:42
remaining.
UTSA maintained the advantage over the next six minutes, finally stretching the lead to to 12 points, 61-49 on a layup by David President with 9:00 minutes to play.
Behind Clark, who had 14 second half points, Stephen F. Austin cut the lead to 68-66 on a free throw by Jasen Gast with 2:10 remaining.
After President answered with another driving layup, Posey connected on two free throws to give UTSA a 72-66 lead with 1:30 left.
The Lumberjacks answered with a 4-0 run and trailed 72-70 when Gast missed an open 3-point field goal attempt with 17 seconds to play.
Hurd answered with two free throws for the final margin with 17 seconds left. The Roadrunners were able to run out the clock after another Gast miss. At this time the Roadrunner faithful poured onto the court in celebration.
"This is unbelievable," said Hurd, who led the SLC in scoring this season with a 19.4 points per game scoring average going into the NCAA Tournament. "I'm proud of how the team came together late in the year to make this happen. When we stood at 5-10 earlier this season a lot of people counted us out. We hung together and got it done."