| Junior DeMarco Stepter scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on Monday night. |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Junior Demarco Stepter led four Roadrunners in double figures in posting his second double-double of the season and UTSA rallied from a 10-point deficit for a 76-72 win at UMKC on Monday night at Municipal Auditorium.
Stepter registered 15 points and 11 rebounds to help UTSA move to 4-4 on the year and 4-0 all-time against UMKC (5-9). The Roadrunners, 5-5 in their last 10 road games, out-rebounded the Kangaroos, 45-42, including 21-10 on the offensive glass in registering a 23-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Junior Omar Johnson scored a team-high 17 points, including 10 of UTSA’s final 11 in the final seven minutes, and he added eight assists and three steals. Sophomore Devin Gibson, who battled a stomach virus all day, posted 13 points, six rebounds and five steals in 23 minutes of action, while junior Morris Smith IV contributed a dozen points and five boards.
“We won this game on our preparation the past three days,” head coach Brooks Thompson said. “UMKC does a great job with the offensive sets they run and they are difficult to guard, but our defense really stepped up down the stretch. Offensively, we really had some guys make plays when it counted. It’s a lot of fun to win tight games on the road like this.”
Clinging to a 71-70 lead in the final minute following a 3-point play by UMKC’s Dane Brumagin, who led all players with 26 points, Johnson drove the lane, pivoted and drained a fade-away jumper with 46 seconds remaining to put UTSA up by three.
UMKC had a chance to tie, but turned the ball over on a traveling violation on Fred Ford with 29 ticks on the clock. Johnson then was quickly fouled and calmly knocked down both freebies to push the lead to 75-70, but the Roos made it a one-possession game on a Ford layup with 12 seconds to play.
Johnson again was fouled and missed the first free throw, but he sank the second and then came up with a steal near midcourt to seal the victory for the Roadrunners.
“Omar is a tough competitor and he really shines in those types of situations,” Thompson said.
UTSA overcame a tough night shooting the ball, making just 37 percent from the floor, including 7-of-25 from behind the 3-point line, and 53.6 percent from the free throw line. The Roadrunners turned the ball over just seven times against 13 assists and came up with 10 steals in forcing 17 UMKC miscues.
Stepter surpassed his previous season high of 12 points against East Central (Nov. 22) with 13 in the first half. The Memphis native added six rebounds, including three on the offensive glass, as UTSA posted 16 second-chance points on the strength of 13 offensive boards in the half.
UTSA erased a 22-16 deficit with a 19-4 run over a five-and-a-half-minute span in building a 35-26 advantage with 5:41 left in the first half. Stepter had nine of his 13 points during the stretch.
Reggie Hamilton scored seven points to help key a 16-2 UMKC run down the stretch, as the Roos took a 41-37 lead into the locker rooms. Brumagin registered 16 of his 26 points in the half to lead all players.
UMKC extended its lead to 49-39 with an 8-2 run to start the second half, but UTSA quickly answered with a 13-2 stretch to grab the lead back, 52-51, at the 14-minute mark.
A Smith IV three from the left wing snapped a 3:48 scoring drought and made it 60-59, UMKC with 7:39 remaining. He struck again, this time from the opposite wing, to give the Roadrunners their first lead in six and a half minutes.
The UTSA lead grew to as many as eight in the final 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners held UMKC without a field goal for more than eight minutes until a turnaround jumper by Bakari Lewis at the 2:32 mark made it 70-64 and kick started the Roos’ final run.
Brumagin was the only UMKC player in double figures, but Lewis added nine points, while Ford pulled down a game-high eight rebounds to go along with six points and four assists. The Roos shot 47.2 percent for the game, but made just 5-of-17 from downtown and 17-of-28 (60.7%) from the line.
The Roadrunners return to action when they host Georgia State on Saturday, Dec. 27, in their first home game in more than a month. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m.