SAN ANTONIO — Sophomore Melvin Johnson III came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and UTSA defeated future Western Athletic Conference foe San Jose State, 72-63, on Tuesday night at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners extended their non-conference home-court winning streak to 18 and now have posted consecutive 4-1 starts for the first time in program history. The Spartans fell to 4-2 on the year.
Johnson III drained four 3-pointers and was 9-of-16 from the field overall in eclipsing his previous career best of 20 against McMurry on Jan. 3, 2010. The Dallas native also notched four rebounds and three steals.
Senior Devin Gibson also was in double figures with 16 points, 14 of which came in the second half. The Houston native registered his second straight double-double and sixth of his career, as he added 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.
Meanwhile, UTSA held Adrian Oliver to 17 points, a season-low total for the WAC’s leading scorer who entered the game averaging 27.8. Justin Graham led the Spartans with 18 points, 11 boards and five assists, while Keith Shamburger added 14 points.
The Roadrunners built a double-digit lead in the first half only to see the Spartans rally to make a game of it in the second.
UTSA built a 27-15 lead with just over four minutes left in the first half. Johnson III connected from downtown and Gibson came up with his second theft of the night, then fed junior Larry Wilkins under the basket to cap a 6-0 run.
The Trojans reeled off six unanswered points to climb back to within 27-21, but Gibson drained a jumper from the right elbow at the buzzer to give UTSA a 30-21 halftime advantage.
Johnson III scored 12 of his 22 points in the first half, while Gibson grabbed eight of his 10 rebounds before the break. The Roadrunners limited San Jose State to an opponent season-low 21 first-half points and 32-percent shooting (8-for-25).
The Spartans opened the second half with an 11-2 run and took their first lead of the night on a Shamburger jumper (34-32).
The lead exchanged hands three more times before UTSA used and 8-3 run to push its lead to 57-50 with six minutes remaining.
San Jose State kept things interesting down the stretch, as a Graham 3-point play at the 2:52 mark made it 63-59. The Roadrunners responded with a 5-0 run and closed the game with a 9-4 stretch to seal the win in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
UTSA begins a three-game road trip on Thursday when they travel to the West Coast to face UC Riverside (2-4) at 9 p.m. (CT).
