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| Freshman Devin Gibson's pair of free throws with a half second left gave UTSA its second road win in a row on Saturday. |
THIBODAUX, La. ? Freshman Devin Gibson drained two free throws with a half second remaining to help lift UTSA to a come-from-behind, 54-52 win at Nicholls State on Saturday evening at Stopher Gym.
The victory was the second consecutive road win for the Roadrunners, who improved to 10-13 overall and 4-6 in Southland Conference play. The Colonels, meanwhile, fell to 7-19 and 2-9.
Junior Joey Shank, who missed Thursday’s win at Southeastern Louisiana due to back spasms, drained a wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key with 38 seconds left to give UTSA, which trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, a 52-50 lead, its first advantage since the 11:36 mark of the first half.
Adonis Gray answered with a turn-around jumper in the lane to knot the score at 52 with 22 ticks remaining. Gibson then drove to the right elbow and was fouled in the act of shooting, setting up his game-winning free throws.
Gibson, who was 9-for-11 from the line, drained both freebies around a pair of timeouts and UTSA knocked away the desperation heave by Ryan Bathie as time expired to seal the two-point victory.
“These two wins give great confidence to our team,” head coach Brooks Thompson said. “We’re learning how to win on the road. The guys believe in themselves and what we are doing, and they're doing the little things to win, especially in a tough road environment.”
Gibson finished with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Shank scored 10. Junior Antoine Dade shared the rebounding lead with Gibson with five. UTSA shot 47.4 percent for the game, including 52.4 percent in the second half, and made 5-of-12 from downtown.
Trailing by 12 early in the second half, Shank drained back-to-back treys to key a 10-0 run that pulled the Roadrunners to within 36-34 with 12:45 to play. Nicholls continued to maintain its lead until Shank’s third trey of the game in the final minute.
Bathie led the Colonels with 11 points, while Gray and Gil Verner contributed nine and eight, respectively. Nicholls State shot 48.6 percent from the floor but committed 26 turnovers, the 13th team to have 20-plus miscues against UTSA this season.
The Roadrunners return home to host UT Arlington on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.