| Sophomore Devin Gibson scored a season-high 25 points on Thursday. |
KATY ? Junior Omar Johnson and sophomore Devin Gibson combined for 45 points and No. 6 seed UTSA upset 3-seed Sam Houston State, 83-74, in the opening round of the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Merrell Center.
In earning their first conference tournament victory since the 2004 SLC Championship Game, the Roadrunners improved to 18-12 on the season and will face No. 2 seed Nicholls, an 80-75 winner over Texas State, at 6 p.m. on Friday in the semifinal round (televised by SLC TV Network). The championship game is slated for noon Sunday (ESPN2). The Bearkats finished their season at 18-12.
“This is a huge step forward for our program from where we’ve been the last two years and what this basketball team is now,” third-year head coach Brooks Thompson said. “It was obviously a very hard-fought battle against a very good Sam Houston State basketball team. I felt like our guys really stepped up and played 40 minutes of pretty darn good basketball. We executed our game plan, for the most part, to a ?T’ and that’s a big reason why we came out on top.”
Helped by a 14-for-15 performance at the free throw line, Gibson poured in a season-high 25 points and he added six assists and three rebounds. Johnson was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line and 7-of-10 from the floor overall in scoring 20 points and he contributed five boards, three dimes and three steals.
UTSA shot a season-high 56.8 percent (25-44) from the field, including 10-of-18 (55.6%) from behind the arc, and made 23-of-27 free throws (85.2%), including 10-of-12 in the final 2:50. Seniors Travis Gabbidon and Joey Shank scored 14 apiece, while Gabbidon also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
The Roadrunners led for much of the game but had to withstand a late rally from the Bearkats. Leading by 10 with just under three minutes to play, Sam Houston chose to put UTSA on the line for most of the remainder of the game. The Roadrunners missed two of their first six attempts and the Bearkats pulled to within 73-68 on a Josten Crow layup with 1:40 left.
UTSA responded on its next possession as Gabbidon found junior Demarco Stepter underneath the basket for an easy layup to push the lead back to seven. The two teams traded free throws until Ashton Mitchell missed a jumper with 18 ticks remaining. Johnson skied for the rebound and Gibson then found Shank all alone on the fastbreak for an easy slam that helped UTSA break a nine-game losing streak to Sam Houston dating back to Valentine’s Day in 2004.
“We have eight teams here wanting to watch on Sunday afternoon when their name is called on Selection Sunday,” Thompson said. “I never felt comfortable with our lead, even when it was eight to 12 points. The reason why is because of this tournament atmosphere. Sam Houston State wasn’t just going to sit down. They wanted to go play tomorrow as much as we did. I will say this about our team. This is as hungry as I have seen them in a long time. If they keep that hunger, anything can happen.”
UTSA made eight of its first 11 shots from the floor in building a 20-11 lead through the first eight minutes. Gabbidon tallied six points on 3-of-5 shooting during the stretch.
The Bearkats used a 14-3 run, helped by six points from Barkley Falkner, over the next six minutes to take a 25-23 lead on a Drae Murray 3-pointer.
The Roadrunners grabbed the lead back on a Gibson three from the wing with just under three minutes to play in the half and Gabbidon converted a 3-point play at the 2-minute mark to help stake UTSA to a 34-30 lead at the break.
UTSA dialed up from long distance to start the second half, connecting on its first four 3-point attempts - including three by Shank ? to extend its lead to 50-41 with 14:39 on the clock.
A Gibson bank shot midway through the half briefly gave the Roadrunners a 10-point lead, but Sam Houston knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to pull to within 56-52 with nine minutes remaining. UTSA quickly answered over the next 82 seconds with a Johnson jumper from the left elbow and a trey from the left wing by junior Morris Smith IV to push the lead back to nine.
Gibson converted a 3-point play at 4:36 mark that made it 64-54 and later drained a pair from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 69-57 with 3:27 to play before Sam Houston began its final push.
Preston Brown led five Bearkats in double figures with 13 points, while Ashton Mitchell, Barkley Faulkner and Lance Pevehouse pitched in with 12 apiece. The Bearkats out-rebounded the Roadrunners, 34-26 and shot 43.8 percent (28-64) from the floor, but made just 29.6 percent (8-27) from downtown.