· Box score
SAN ANTONIO -- Ryan Bathie made 1-of-3 free throws with less one second remaining to force overtime and Adonis Gray poured in 23 points to lead Nicholls State to a come-from-behind 65-54 victory over UTSA on Saturday night at the Convocation Center.
Bathie finished with 16 points to help the Colonels improve to 5-20 overall and 4-7 in the Southland Conference. The victory was the first of the season on the road for Nicholls and it snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Roadrunners.
Juniors Melvin Smith and Ryan Williams led UTSA (6-17, 2-8 SLC) in scoring with 11 points apiece, a season high for Williams, while junior Keith Spencer pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, his seventh game in double figures.
Trailing 49-46 with just over seven minutes to play, UTSA rallied to take a 50-49 lead behind a 3-point play from Smith. Back-to-back baskets from Gray gave the Colonels a 53-50 advantage with 3:36 left. The Roadrunners quickly responded with a layup by junior Andrew Francis pulled UTSA to within a point at the 3:18 mark.
Smith then ended a two-minutes scoring drought by both teams with a 15-foot jumper to give UTSA the lead, 54-53. Attaway then came up with a big steal to give the Roadrunners the ball back with 42 ticks remaining. UTSA launched a long-range shot as the shot clock buzzer sounded and came up with the offensive rebound with time running out. However, officials stopped the clock to look at a replay on the television monitor courtside and determined the ball had not left the UTSA player’s hand before the shot clock expired, giving Nicholls possession with 6.5 seconds remaining.
Bathie launched a 3-pointer from the corner in front of the Colonels’ bench that missed, but was fouled as time expired, giving him three chances to knot the score. Bathie drained the first freebie, but missed the next two with the UTSA crowd in full force to force overtime.
Nicholls stormed out to a 58-54 lead in the extra period and never looked back, holding UTSA scoreless en route to the 65-54 victory.
The first half was all Roadrunners as UTSA stormed out a 16-6 lead through the first nine minutes. The lead grew to 11 following a 3-pointer from junior Isaiah Allen at the midway point of the half.
Nicholls made a late run to cut it to a seven-point deficit (32-25) at the break.
The Roadrunners held the Colonels, who drained 21 3-pointers in a Thursday night loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, to just 1-of-7 from behind the arc in the half.
Nicholls cut the deficit to two with a 5-0 run to start the second half, forcing a UTSA timeout. Ryan Bathie then nailed a trey from the corner to give the Colonels their first lead since the opening minute.
Bathie drained another three from the opposite corner to give Nicholls a 41-37 advantage with just under 13 minutes to play.
Nicholls shot 47.6 percent (10-21) in the second half and benefited from a zone defense that held the Roadrunners to just 33.3-percent shooting (8-24).
The Roadrunners return to action on Thursday, Feb. 15, at Texas-Arlington. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at Texas Hall.
