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| Senior Omar Johnson had a career night with 21 points and nine assists on Wednesday night. |
SAN ANTONIO — Senior Omar Johnson posted career highs of 21 points and nine assists to lead UTSA to an 88-74 victory against Northwestern State on Wednesday evening at the Convocation Center.
With the win, the Roadrunners extended their winning streak to four games and improved to 17-9 overall. UTSA also moved into a tie with Southeastern Louisiana for fifth place at 7-6 in the Southland Conference. The Demons fell to 10-16 and 5-8.
Johnson matched his career high in points set last season in a win against Rice and eclipsed his previous best of eight assists registered twice last season. The Philadelphia native was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, tying the record he set last year against Central Arkansas (shared by three other players).
Senior Morris Smith IV poured in 17 points — 15 in the first half — behind three 3-pointers and he added six rebounds. Junior Devin Gibson added 13 points, 11 after the half, six assists, five boards and a block, while seniors Demarco Stepter and Terry Fields added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Senior Leslie Jackson grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, as UTSA out-rebounded the Demons, 38-32.
The Roadrunners drained 13 consecutive free throw to start the game and finished 24-for-28 (85.7 percent). UTSA shot 49.1 percent (28-57) from the floor overall, including 8-of-22 from downtown.
Devon Baker led the Demons with 20 points, while Damon Jones and Will Pratt added 14 and 13, respectively. Northwestern State shot 41.7 percent (25-60), but made just 6-of-24 (25 percent) from behind the arc and 18-of-27 (66.7 percent) from the line.
UTSA led by as many as 19 points in a game that saw the lead change hands just once.
The Roadrunners opened the second half on a 10-4 run, as Johnson made a pair of free throws at the 17:24 mark to give UTSA a 53-34 advantage.
UTSA kept a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half until Baker connected from long range with 5:29 to play to pull the Demons to within 75-66. The Roadrunners quickly answered with a 5-1 run and never let Northwestern State closer than 10 down the stretch in their fifth victory in the last six games.
The first half saw UTSA wake up from a slow start and take a commanding lead.
A Fields fast-break dunk off a feed from Gibson and back-to-back layups by Smith IV capped a 14-0 run that gave the Roadrunners a 43-26 cushion with just over two minutes left in the first half.
The Demons, who jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game, closed the half by scoring the last six points to make it a 13-point game at the break.
The Roadrunners travel to Beaumont to face Lamar at 7 p.m. on Saturday.