| Senior Terry Fields' jumper in the final minute helped give UTSA a two-point on Saturday night. |
NACOGDOCHES — Senior Terry Fields drained a 10-foot jumper with 58.4 seconds to play to help lift UTSA to a 65-63 victory at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Fields broke a 63-all tie by using the glass and the Roadrunners held the Lumberjacks without a field goal in their final two possessions to score their first win in Nacogdoches since a 54-49 decision on March 3, 2007, which was fourth-year head coach Brooks Thompson’s first season.
UTSA improves to 19-10 overall and 9-7 in the Southland Conference, the program’s best league record since going 10-6 in 2004-05. The Roadrunners will be the six seed and play third-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10, in the opening round of the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament.
“I’ve never been prouder of our team,” Thompson said. “We knew this was the type of game that was going to come down to the final possessions. We got some key baskets and came up with huge stops at the end, and that was the difference in the game.”
Senior Morris Smith IV scored a team-high 13 points behind a 3-for-4 night from beyond the 3-point line, while Fields posted 12 points and a team-best six rebounds. Senior Demarco Stepter added 10 points behind 5-for-6 shooting.
Back-to-back tipins by Stepter in the final four minutes erased a 60-57 deficit and helped put the Roadrunners up by one. Stepter then answered an Eddie Williams basket with a layup to give UTSA a 63-62 advantage with 2:13 to play.
Walt Harris, the league’s leading free-throw shooter, was fouled on a drive into the lane. He made his first attempt but missed his second to leave the game tied at 63 with just over a minute to play.
Fields then quickly banked in the go-ahead basket at the other end to make it 65-63.
UTSA came up with a stop at the other end after Harris missed a jumper from the free throw line with 48 seconds left. UTSA came up with the rebound but missed two shots from close range, giving SFA one last chance. With the clock winding down, Harris found himself about 25 feet from the basket. His last-second heave clanked off the backboard and UTSA secured the board for the win to break a five-game losing streak to the Lumberjacks.
SFA’s Jereal Scott led all players with 21 points, while Harris and Williams added 11 apiece. SFA shot 50.9 percent from the floor, but made just 3-of-11 from downtown and 6-of-11 from the charity stripe.
Meanwhile, UTSA shot 48.1 percent and made 9-of-11 from the line.