| Senior Melvin Smith scored a team-high 14 points on Wednesday night. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Senior Melvin Smith scored 14 points, but John Gardiner poured in 19 to help lead Sam Houston State to a 68-37 victory over UTSA on Wednesday night at Johnson Coliseum.
The Roadrunners fell to 7-8 in Southland Conference play and 13-15 overall but earned a berth in next week's Southand Conference Tournament with Stephen F. Austin’s 71-56 victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Bearkats improved to 22-6 and 10-5.
Smith was 5-of-11 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the free throw line in leading UTSA in scoring for the second time this season. Senior Keith Spencer pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.
Gardiner had a perfect night shooting the basketball, going 8-for-8 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe, while also pulling down six rebounds. Shamir McDaniel added 10 points and Ryan Bright posted eight points and eight boards.
Sam Houston built a big early lead, taking a 20-7 lead midway through the first half en route to a 30-13 halftime advantage, as freshman Devin Gibson suffered an ankle injury with just under eight minutes to play in the half.
UTSA opened the second half on a 9-4 run to pull within 34-22 points at the 17:37 mark, but the Bearkats answered with an 11-1 stretch and never looked back, holding the Roadrunners to their lowest point total since a 58-37 loss at nationally-ranked Texas on Nov. 12, 2007.
Sam Houston shot 49.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Roadrunners, 34-25. UTSA shot just 32.4 percent for the game and made only 9-of-21 from the line. Gibson came back to play four minutes in the second half, but the NCAA’s steals leader did not record a theft for just the second time this season (UMKC, Nov. 29).
The Roadrunners return home to host Stephen F. Austin in the regular season finale this Saturday. Tip is set for 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center.