Feb. 2, 2006
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907
Young’s double-double leads UTSA past Nicholls State, 67-50
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SAN ANTONIO – Freshman Eric Young posted his first career double-double as UTSA built a big lead early and held on for a 67-50 victory against Nicholls State Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
With the win, UTSA improves to 8-11 overall and 3-5 in the Southland Conference in winning its 10th straight meeting with the Colonels. Nicholls falls to 7-13 and 3-6.
Young (right) posted 16 points and added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double and his second straight double-digit scoring output. Sophomore Abe Donlon registered 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and nine boards, while senior Andre Owens and junior Kyile Byrd pitched in 12 apiece.
UTSA dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Colonels, 50-27. The Roadrunners also shot 41.8 percent from the floor while holding Nicholls to 30.9. Ryan Bathie led the Colonels with 14 points.
UTSA jumped out to a 14-4 lead through the first 6:37 behind seven early points from Young. Junior Gabe Bernard, who missed the last four games due to injury, drained his first shot attempt, a 3-pointer from the left wing at the 10:30 mark that gave the Roadrunners a 17-6 lead.
Young continued to pile on the points as his trey from the right wing gave him 15 and UTSA a 27-12 lead with 6:44 to play in the half. The Roadrunners were 7-of-11 from behind the arc in the half, pushing the lead to 41-22 on a Byrd 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:14 left. Byrd (left) added a long jumper just before the buzzer to make the score 43-25.
The Roadrunners shot just one free throw in the first half but out-shot the Colonels from the floor by a wide margin, 18-of-34 (52.9 percent) to 10-of-28 (35.7).
UTSA used a 6-0 run to start the second half to extend the lead to 49-25 with 14:40 remaining. Byrd drained his second 3-pointer of the night at the 9:08 mark to give him a new career high in scoring with 12 and UTSA 57-32 lead.
The Colonels cut it to 59-40 on a 3-pointer from Justin Payne, but UTSA quickly answered with back-to-back lay-ups by sophomore Abe Donlon and Owens.
Bathie drained a long trey from the left wing to bring Nicholls to within 65-48 with 2:51 to play and the Colonels eventually cut the deficit to 15 in the final minute, but it was all too late as UTSA held on for the 67-50 victory.
The Roadrunners host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Feb. 4. Tip is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be seen locally on Time Warner Cable channel 50.