| Junior Devin Gibson scored a team-high 18 points and added five assists and three steals on Wednesday night. |
CORPUS CHRISTI — Senior Omar Johnson and junior Devin Gibson combined to score 31 points and UTSA built an 18-point first-half lead and held on for a 57-56 victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday at the American Bank Center.
It marked the first win in Corpus Christi in six tries for the Roadrunners, who improved to 15-9 overall and 5-6 in Southland Conference play. The Islanders fell to 13-12 and 7-4.
“This was a very good win for us,” head coach Brooks Thompson said. “Any time you can snag a road win in this league against a team as talented as Corpus Christi, you have to be happy. We got off to a very good start offensively and we knew they would make a run and get back into the game. Our defense stepped up all game long, especially down the stretch, and I thought that was the key to this win.”
Gibson scored 18 points behind a 5-for-9 night shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line. The Houston native also went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and added five assists and three steals in 38 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, Johnson poured in 13 points behind a 3-for-4 night from downtown, the most threes for the Philadelphia native since draining six against Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 25.
UTSA led by as many as 18 in the first half, but found itself hanging on by a thread in the final minutes.
Gibson gave UTSA a 57-54 cushion with a jumper from the left elbow with just under one minute remaining, but Demond Watt was fouled at the other end and made both free throws to pull the Islanders back to within one with 40 ticks on the clock.
Gibson missed a jumper with 10 seconds left, but senior Terry Fields came up with perhaps the biggest of his game-high nine rebounds and UTSA quickly called for a timeout. Senior Morris Smith IV was fouled immediately on the inbounds pass, but missed the first of his one-and-one trip to the line and A&M-Corpus Christi came up with the rebound. After a timeout near midcourt, the Islanders’ LaMarr Drake tried the lob to Marcus Hammonds on the far side of the basket, but the pass deflected off the backboard and several players batted around the loose ball as time expired.
UTSA came out on fire and grabbed an early 17-8 lead. The Roadrunners made seven of their first 10 shots, capped by a three-point play from senior Josh Bonney seven minutes into the contest. Gibson then came up with his first theft one minute later and found freshman Melvin Johnson III on the right wing for a trey to make it 20-9.
The lead grew to as many as 18 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Gibson and Omar Johnson put the Roadrunners up, 33-15, with 6:51 left in the first.
The Islanders climbed back into the game with a 12-0 run over the next five minutes that ended with a Palmer trey. UTSA managed just one free throw in the final minute and led, 34-27, at the break.
A&M-Corpus Christi crept closer early in the second half and took its first lead after a Hammonds 3-pointer from the right side made it 47-45 with just over nine minutes remaining.
Kevin Palmer led all players with 19 points, while Watt added 14 and seven rebounds.
The Roadrunners return home to host West Division leader Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. on Saturday in their annual Homecoming contest.