| Junior Devin Gibson scored 12 of his team-leading 19 points in the second half on Monday. |
RICHMOND, Ky. — Junior Devin Gibson scored 19 points and UTSA improved to 3-0 for thefirst time since the 2004-05 season with a 66-56 victory against UCIrvine on the first day of the O’Reilly Auto Parts College Basketball Exprience Classic RichmondSubregional, which is being played at McBrayer Arena.
The Roadrunners extended their non-conference winningstreak to nine games and now have won 12 of their past 14 non-leaguematchups. The Anteaters fell to 2-2 on the season in dropping thefirst-ever meeting between the two schools.
Gibson scored 12 of his 19 in the second half and was7-for-10 from the field overall. The Cy-Falls High product added fourrebounds, four assists and three steals and also extended his made freethrow streak to 16 before missing from the line for the first time thisseason 12 minutes into the second half (finished 5-for-6).
Seniors Terry Fields and Morris Smith IV scored 11apiece for UTSA, which shot 50 percent (25-50) from the field andscored 40 points in the paint. Senior Demarco Stepter pulled down ateam-high eight rebounds to go along with eight points, while seniorsOmar Johnson and Josh Bonney posted eight and seven points,respectively. The Roadrunners also forced 18 UC Irvine turnovers, nineon steals, and tallied 19 points off the miscues.
UTSA used a 9-2 run over the final six and a halfminutes of the first half to build a seven-point lead, the largest byeither team in the frame. Fields had five points, one assist and asteal during the stretch and sophomore Sei Paye capped the run with alayup off a feed from Fields to make it 34-27.
Eric Wise scored 15 of UC Irvine’s 27 points, going5-of-7 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line in the half, whileFields led UTSA with nine.
The UTSA run continued through the first 4:37 of thesecond half. The Anteaters cut the deficit to 34-31 on four consecutivepoints from Darren Moore in the first 1:27, but the Roadrunnersresponded by scoring 10 unanswered, the last two on a leaning bank shotby Gibson from the left side to make it 44-31.
The Roadrunners increased their lead to 15 on arainmaker from the right wing by Smith IV, his second of the half,making it a 25-10 run over a 13-minute span going back to the 6:31 markof the first half.
The lead grew to as many as 17 on a Gibson layup atthe midway point of the second and UC Irvine would get no closer thaneight down the stretch, as the Roadrunners held on for their 13th roadwin in the last 25 tries.
UC Irvine was held to 39.2-percent (20-51) shooting,including just 3-of-13 from behind the arc. Michael Hunter joined Wisein double figures with 15, while Wise and Adam Folker grabbed agame-best nine boards apiece.
The Roadrunners will face Fairleigh Dickinson (1-3),which lost to host Eastern Kentucky, 68-39, in the first game of the subregional, at 7 p.m. (CT) Tuesday. That game can be heardlive in the San Antonio listening area on 92.5 FM The Outlaw.