Feb. 9, 2006
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907
Balanced scoring, Young’s double-double lift UTSA to 100-75 victory over McNeese State
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SAN ANTONIO – Freshman Eric Young posted his second double-double to lead six players in double figures as UTSA ran away from McNeese State, 100-75, Thursday night in front of 1,385 fans at the Convocation Center.
Young (right) posted 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead a balanced scoring attack from the Roadrunners, who improve to 9-12 overall and 4-6 in the Southland Conference. UTSA now stands in a four-way tie for seventh place with Nicholls State, Stephen F. Austin and Texas-Arlington.
Junior transfer Kyile Byrd scored a career-high 18 points, including 14 in the first half, while junior transfer Chris Thompson nearly matched his career best of 18 with 17 points, highlighted by a 4-for-5 night from behind the 3-point line.
Senior Andre Owens and sophomore Abe Donlon added 13 points apiece while freshman Aldric Reynolds pitched in 11. It marked the first time UTSA had six players reach double figures in scoring in a game.
J.T. Williams recorded a double-double of his own with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cowboys (11-9, 6-3 SLC). Jarvis Bradley, Dwight Boatner and John Ford also reached double digits with 13, 12 and 10, respectively.
UTSA shot better than 50 percent from the field for the second straight game, converting 36-of-61 (59.0 percent) from the field, including 11-of-22 from behind the arc. The Roadrunners also made 17-of-21 free throws (81 percent) in perhaps their most complete game of the season.
Defensively, UTSA held McNeese to just 31.3 percent shooting (20-of-64). The Cowboys made 42 trips to the free throw line, hitting 28 of those (66.7 percent).
“The key thing about tonight was we hit shots,” head coach Tim Carter said. “When you make shots like we did tonight, you give yourself a chance to be successful. We did a nice job limiting our turnovers to 14 and I thought we did some things that frustrated McNeese State’s offense. We let McNeese get to the line too many times, but that comes with the type of game played tonight.”
McNeese got off to the hot start as Williams drained two early treys to stake the Cowboys to a 15-9 lead through the first 5:56. UTSA answered with an 11-4 run capped by a dunk from freshman Nkem Ojougboh to take a 20-19 lead at the 9:52 mark.
After a Boatner 3-pointer, Ojougboh converted a 3-point play, Owens turned a steal into an easy fastbreak lay-up and Byrd (left) drained a trey from the right wing to give UTSA a 28-22 lead with 8:20 to play in the half. Another Byrd trifecta pushed the lead to 33-26 at the 6:51 mark.
The Cowboys would claw back to within three but Thompson converted a rare 4-point play to give UTSA a 41-33 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the half. Thompson’s third trey of the half pushed the advantage to 47-36 at the 1:28 mark. Ford made 1-of-2 free throws to pull McNeese to within 47-37 at the break, but that is as close as the Cowboys would get.
The Roadrunners exploded for a 24-8 run to start the second half behind seven points from Young. Thompson’s 3-pointer from the left corner capped the run, putting the game out of reach at 71-47 with 13:24 to play.
The lead would grow to as much as 30 at 90-60 on an Aldric Reynolds trey. McNeese cut it to 22 at 91-69 on a Williams follow but it was too little too late as sophomore Jon Flansburg’s baseline lay-up made it 100-75, marking the second time UTSA has reached the century mark.
The Roadrunners host Lamar on Saturday in the Homecoming Game. Tip is set for 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center.