| Senior Travis Gabbidon posted a season-high 18 points on Monday night |
DALLAS ? Senior Travis Gabbidon led four Roadrunners in double figures with a season-high 18 points and UTSA extended its winning streak to three games with an 80-75 victory over SMU on Monday night at Moody Coliseum.
The Roadrunners improved to 6-4 on the season with its second road win of the season against a Conference USA member (Rice, Dec. 4). They now are 6-5 in their last 11 road games and it marks the first time they have won back-to-back road games since the 1988-89 season. SMU fell to 3-7.
Junior Morris Smith IV drained four 3-pointers to score 15 points, while sophomore Devin Gibson scored all 14 of his points in the second half and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior Demarco Stepter posted his third double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 boards and junior Omar Johnson posted nine points, six dimes and four rebounds.
UTSA was 11-for-23 from behind the 3-point line, including 5-of-9 in the second half, and now has hit seven or more 3-pointers in eight of nine games this season. The Roadrunners shot 46.7 percent from the floor overall and 13-of-18 (72.2%) from the free throw line. Despite a measurable height disadvantage, UTSA out-rebounded the Mustangs, 38-34.
UTSA used the long ball to erase an early 16-10 deficit. Smith IV and junior Terry Fields each connected twice from downtown to key a 17-4 run that gave the Roadrunners a 27-20 lead with 5:46 to play in the first half.
SMU responded with a 7-0 run to knot the score, but the Roadrunners, who finished with six treys in the half, did not relinquish the lead and took a 33-32 advantage into the locker room.
SMU did take the lead back on its first possession of the second half on a Bamba Fall layup and extended it to 43-39 on an Alex Malone jumper at the 16:23 mark.
The Mustangs led by as many as six, but UTSA would rally. Gabbidon capped a 14-8 run with a layup at the 6:10 mark that tied it at 59-all.
Back-to-back threes from Smith IV and Gibson gave the Roadrunners a 65-61 lead with 5:30 to play. Gibson followed a pair of missed free throws by Paul McCoy with a driving layup and junior Demarco Stepter made 1-of-2 freebies to make it a seven-point game one minute later.
Stepter struck again, this time from the right wing, as he drained a 3-pointer to up the lead to 73-63 with just under three minutes on the clock.
Trailing 78-71 in the final seconds, Derek Williams made things interesting with a potential 3-point play, but he missed the plus-one free throw. However, Bamba Fall grabbed the rebound and made the putback to cut it to 78-75 with 5.4 seconds left. Gabbidon successfully inbounded to Smith IV, who raced all the way up the sideline and in for a dunk that just beat the buzzer and gave UTSA the 80-75 win.
McCoy led all players with 19 points, while Williams added 17 for the Mustangs. Fall registered a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds
The Roadrunners return home to host Colgate at 7 p.m. on Friday.