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| Senior Duke Allen led UTSA with 14 points on Wednesday night. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Senior Isaiah Allen led three Roadrunners in double figures with 14 points, but UTSA shot a season-low 25.4 percent from the field in falling to McNeese State, 74-53, on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
The loss snapped a season-long four-game winning streak and dropped the Roadrunners to 12-14 overall and 6-7 in Southland Conference play. The Cowboys improved to 12-13 and 6-7 to tie UTSA for sixth place in the conference standings. UT Arlington (6-8), Texas State (5-9) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-8) also lost tonight, keeping the Roadrunners in the tight race for one of the eight seeds for the SLC Tournament in two weeks.
Allen drained four 3-pointers in tying his season-high scoring output, while freshman JohnMark Ludwick also nailed four treys for 12 points. Freshman Devin Gibson added 10 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists, while senior Melvin Smith scored nine.
Jarvis Bradley led four Cowboys in double figures with 15 points, also pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. John Ford (14), Kleon Penn (12) and Diego Kapelan (10) also helped McNeese shoot 54.2 percent from the floor and 81.8 percent from the free throw line.
UTSA made just 16-of-63 from the floor for the game, including 3-of-32 (9.4 percent) in the second half, and were out-rebounded, 47-25. The Roadrunners only turned the ball over five times and forced 18 McNeese miscues, nine of those steals.
There were 13 lead changes and six ties early in the first half. A 5-0 run capped by a Kapelan jumper at the 9:01 mark gave the Cowboys a 22-17 lead. Ludwick answered with a trey, but McNeese pushed the lead out to 31-24 with just over four minutes to play in the half. UTSA jumped back in front, 33-32, on another Ludwick longball with 1:44 on the clock, but a Bradley jumper in the lane gave the Cowboys a 34-33 lead at the break.
The Roadrunners went cold from the floor in the second half, missing 21 of their first 22 shots. Meanwhile, McNeese made 13-of-26 in the half, building a 59-46 lead before UTSA got its second field goal of the half on a layup by freshman E.B. Davis at the 5:45 mark. Ford responded with back-to-back jumpers and the Cowboys cruised from there.
The Roadrunners host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Homecoming Game on Saturday. Tip is set for 7 p.m.