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| Junior Devin Gibson led UTSA with 12 points and a season-high five steals on Saturday night (photo by Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News). |
SAN ANTONIO — Junior Devin Gibson led three players in double figures with 12 points and UTSA held off a furious rally to beat UT Arlington, 63-61, on Saturday night at the Convocation Center.
Gibson was 4-for-9 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line and he recorded a season-high five steals to help the Roadrunners improve to 14-9 overall and 4-6 in the Southland Conference, their first win against a West Division team. The Mavericks fell to 13-10 and 5-5.
Seniors Terry Fields and Omar Johnson scored 11 apiece, while senior Morris Smith IV added nine and a team-high seven rebounds.
UTSA held Marques Haynes, who came into the contest second in the NCAA in scoring (24.1 ppg), to 13 points, his second-lowest output of season (12 at McNeese State on Wednesday).
The Roadrunners led by as many as 16 in the second half, but had to withstand a late rally by the Mavericks.
A dunk by senior Leslie Jackson, who scored six, and a pair of free throws by Gibson gave UTSA a 54-38 lead midway through the second half. The Roadrunners still led by double digits after a Gibson jumper made it 58-44 with 6:42 to play, but the Mavericks rallied.
Four consecutive free throws by LaMarcus Reed and Haynes pulled UT Arlington to within 10 and layups by Haynes and J.D. Davis cut the deficit to 58-52 with 3:27 remaining.
Haynes answered a Gibson jumper with a 3-pointer and Dwight Gentry drove all the way in for an easy basket to get the Mavs within a possession at 60-57 with 2:22 on the clock.
Haynes had a chance to make it a one-point game one minute later, but made one of two at the line. Fields then was fouled on a putback of his own miss at the other end, and the Headland, Ala. Native made both freebies to give UTSA a four-point cushion with 44 ticks left.
Brandon Long missed three attempts from downtown in the final seconds and a late trey by Reed helped provide the final margin.
UTSA shot 44.8 percent (26-58) from the field, despite making just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, UTA shot 40 percent (22-55), but also struggled from downtown (5-30). Haynes was just 3-for-11 from the field, 2-of-9 on 3-pointers. Cameron Catlett and Reed joined Haynes in double figures with 12 and 11, respectively.
The Roadrunners hit the road to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17.