| Senior Joey Shank scored a career-high 26 points on Thursday night. |
HOUSTON ? Senior Joey Shank and junior Omar Johnson combined to go 12-of-14 from behind the 3-point arc and UTSA held off Rice, 78-75, to snap a 23-game non-conference losing streak in road contests on Thursday night at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Shank drained 7-of-9 from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the floor overall en route to tying his career high with 26 points, while Johnson was a perfect 5-for-5 from downtown in scoring a season-high 21 points to help the Roadrunners improve to 3-3 on the season.
Sophomore Devin Gibson, playing in his first game back in his hometown, added 13 points and six steals, one shy of the reigning NCAA thefts champion’s career high posted last season against Navy. UTSA recorded 11 steals as a team and forced 19 Rice turnovers, converting those into 22 points.
“It’s a good feeling any time you get a win on the road, especially against a team from a league like Conference USA,” third-year head coach Brooks Thompson said. “The guys showed the will to win and we had some things go our way and made some plays down the stretch that enabled us to come out on top.”
A large contingent of UTSA fans made the three-hour trek to the Bayou City to watch UTSA score its first victory in a true non-conference road game since Dec. 13, 2003, when the Roadrunners beat Baylor, 53-45. It also marked the first meeting between the two schools since Dec. 5, 1986, an 84-63 Rice victory in Houston, as UTSA evened the all-time series at 3-3.
Trailing 43-39 at the break, the Owls started the second half on a 14-8 run to take a 53-51 lead on a Lucas Kuipers layup at the 15:02 mark, their first lead in nearly 23 minutes.
The two teams traded leads five times and neither led by more than three until Johnson drained his fourth three from the left wing to give UTSA a 70-66 lead with 4:30 remaining. Johnson connected on his fifth 47 seconds later to make it 73-68.
Shank was fouled on a 3-point attempt from the right corner that rimmed in and out, but made all three freebies to push the lead to 76-70 with just under two minutes to play. Bryan Beasley answered with a three from the top of the key to make it a one-possession game with one and a half minutes remaining.
Following a missed basket by the Roadrunners with 20 seconds on the clock, Rice’s Rodney Foster drove baseline looking to give the Owls the lead, but he turned the ball over in traffic. Senior Travis Gabbidon grabbed the loose ball, was fouled with 38 ticks left and made both free throws to give UTSA a 78-75 lead. Rice's ensuing inbounds pass was knocked loose at mid-court, sealing the win.
UTSA held an eight-point lead on four different occasions and led by as many as 10 in the first half behind an 8-for-15 effort from beyond the 3-point line. Shank had five of his seven treys, as the Roadrunners shot 44.1 percent from the floor overall. Gibson was 4-for-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the line for 11 points in the half.
Meanwhile, Rice blistered the nets for 69.6 percent (16-of-23), including 5-of-6 from downtown. The Owls’ only lead in the half was 2-0 on Trey Stanton’s layup just 11 seconds into the game. Shank drained his first triple at the 17:57 mark to give UTSA a 5-2 advantage and Rice managed to tie the score only twice the rest of the half.
Cory Pflieger led Rice with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, as the Owls fired at a 57.7 clip for the game. Kuipers added 14 and a game-high eight rebounds.
The Roadrunners are off until Thursday, Dec. 18, when they travel to Edinburg to face Texas-Pan American.