STILLWATER, Okla. — Sophomore Melvin Johnson III led three Roadrunners in double figures with 16 points, but Oklahoma State used an 18-2 run in the second half to score a 79-63 victory against UTSA on Monday night at historic Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Cowboys (12-2), who shot 60.9 percent for the game and led by as many as 10 in the first half, held a 38-33 advantage at the break and opened the second half with a bucket to push the lead to seven.
The Roadrunners (6-6), who dropped their fourth consecutive game, responded with an 8-2 run that began with a 3-pointer from freshman Jeromie Hill and was capped by a 3-point play from senior Devin Gibson to make it 42-41. A baseline jumper by Hill kept the Roadrunners within one, but the Cowboys opened up the game with the key five-and-a-half-minute stretch.
Oklahoma State made six of seven baskets and held UTSA to just one field goal during the decisive run that was capped by a Reger Dowell layup that gave the Cowboys a 65-48 lead with 9:09 on the clock.
OSU led by as many as 21 and the Roadrunners could get no closer than 15 down the stretch.
“That big run was the difference,” said UTSA head coach Brooks Thompson, a two-time all-conference player at Oklahoma State “We took a couple of tough shots and had some bad breaks go against us, which led to some easy transition baskets for them. You have to give Oklahoma State credit, though. They dominated us inside with 46 points in the paint.
“On the flipside, I’m really proud of the way our guys competed in front of a tough crowd against a physical team. I’m encouraged by that heading into conference play on Saturday.”
Johnson III scored 14 of his 16 in the first half behind a 4-for-4 effort from beyond the arc in leading UTSA in scoring for the fourth time this season. The Dallas native also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
Gibson registered 14 points to reach 1,290 for his career and pass Ronnie Ellison for fifth place on the all-time chart. The Houston native added eight assists and five steals in 38 minutes. Hill also scored 14 behind a 3-for-5 night from downtown and matched Johnson III with a team-best five boards.
Oklahoma State was 28-for-46 from the field, posting 46 points in the paint, and 20-of-22 from the free-throw line to overcome a 3-for-11 night from long distance and 16 turnovers in the win.
Jean-Paul Olukemi led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points, while Marshall Moses added 14. Dowell (12), Markel Brown (11), Darrell Williams (11) and Matt Pilgrim (10) also reached double figures. The Cowboys also posted a 34-21 advantage on the glass behind a game-high nine rebounds from Williams.
UTSA made seven first-half 3-pointers on 10 attempts, including 4-for-4 by Johnson III. However, OSU held a 38-33 advantage at the break, thanks in large part to 28 points in the paint, which helped the Cowboys shoot 64 percent (16-25) from the floor.
The Roadrunners made their first four 3-point attempts of the contest, two by junior Sei Paye, but the Cowboys made 12 of their first 17 shots overall in building a 28-18 lead midway through the first half.
Johnson III drained two more from long distance to help UTSA cut the deficit to 30-26. He knocked down another trey at the 2:16 mark to pull the Roadrunners to within 34-31 before falling behind by five at the end of the first half.
The Roadrunners will open Southland Conference play against Sam Houston State (7-6) on Saturday. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
Postgame Quotes
UTSA Head Coach Brooks Thompson
Opening Statement
"To recap the game, we are a little bit disappointed in how the game turned out honestly. I think in the second half OSU played a pretty darn good basketball game. Looking at the stats, they just dominated us inside. With Marshall Moses and Matt Pilgrim and Jéan-Paul Olukemi, those guys did a tremendous job tonight. But on the flip side, I am very excited about how our guys competed except for in that six-minute stretch near the 14-minute mark, I thought we started to do uncharacteristic things. I think we cut it to one point at the 14-and-a-half mark and then we got a couple of bad rolls on the rim and then we started taking uncharacteristic shots."
On being outmatched in the paint
"If you look at the three guys that we played, they had never played a Division I basketball game until the 12 games before this one. You look at T.J. Williams being a freshman and Alex (Vouyoukas) coming from junior college and then a few of our others have never played Division I before. And then you play against those big guys like Marshall Moses that can score and guys that are so strong. I think that is when you start seeing the difference between the Big 12 and the Southland Conference. I think our guys worked their tail off. Our goal was to come in and try to front them and I think our guys tried to get around them. But when you have someone that is crafty like Marshall that knows how to space you out, he is going to go over your right shoulder. I mean he is a monster, he knows how to score that ball down there."
On being back in Gallagher-Iba Arena
"My wife was an athlete here and obviously I played here and we have great pride in Oklahoma State. It is always good to come back to Gallagher. It is a special place. There are not many places where you get to see the same people all the time that have so much pride in one athletic department. I take great pride in this athletic department. It is always fun, even though sometimes the 40 minutes during the game may not be that much fun. It is a great atmosphere for our guys to play in and it is always fun coming home."
OSU Head Coach Travis Ford
“I thought our defensive intensity in the second half was much better than the first half. I wasn’t very happy at half time and we talked about it at half time. You have to give San Antonio credit. They shot phenomenal and shot the ball extremely well. We weren’t defending greatly in the first half and they made their shots. We were defending better in the second half and they still made some shots. So you have to give them credit, first and foremost. It’s draining on the defense to be playing and fighting through screens and all of a sudden the guy catches it and makes a three. That’s draining. So I was proud of our team because they kept playing through that. When a team goes out and makes 11 threes on you, that’s hard to play against. I thought we executed offensively what we wanted to and what we’d talked about the last couple of days, rather than wasting possessions of offense like we did against Gonzaga. But tonight I thought we executed a lot better offensively. We got the ball where we wanted to.”
“I didn’t think San Antonio would continue to hit the threes like they were and I thought we were in good shape. We scored when we needed to. But I was still very upset with our intensity. I thought we would come out a little bit better and defend a little bit better than we did after a very poor performance the other night. But I think they got the message at halftime. When teams are living and dying with the three, which they were doing and I don’t blame them because I’d keep shooting them too, you have to go on a spurt at some point to be OK. That’s what we did. We finally went on a spurt. We got them to miss, got a couple transition points and a couple of threes and stretched it out.”
“J.P. Olukemi is an offensive threat. He’s got to get better at a lot of things but he has the ability to score. He and Markel (Brown) are two of the more versatile guys on our team as far as guys who can score in several different ways. They can defend, the can defend bigger guys, they can rebound and can do several different things. We still use the phrase with them that we need more positive than negative. They do a lot of positive things but they do a lot of things that hurt you. They’re growing out of that though.”
Senior Forward Matt Pilgrim
On UTSA's 3-point shooting in the first half
"That's just part of the game. If they're hot, they're hot. You just got to find a way to stop it and rely on the coaching and we just have to step up ourselves to stop that. That's just part of the game."
On dominating in the paint
"Everbody just stepped up. The bigs stepped up. Darrell (Williams) finished under the bucket, (Marshall) Moses finished under the bucket and I just happened to finish under the bucket. It just worked out that well."
On Reger Dowell's success
"He stuck with it, just like Nick (Sidorakis). He just showed his real, true character. Just keep at it and never give up. Some type of light will shine on that and he just followed the light and is coming to it."
Sophomore Guard Reger Dowell
On being able to contribute
"I just felt real comfortable the last couple of days. The last couple of weeks, I've been playing a lot of the point-guard position, so I feel real comfortable at the 'one'."
On having to work hard to earn playing time
"It's really just a learning experience. That's something where a lot of hot D-1 prospects come in as freshmen thinking they're going to play right away. They're used to everybody kissing their tails and stuff in high school. It's kind of a reality check when you get to the college level, playing at the highest level and you're not catered to and you have to work for stuff. It just makes you a better all-around person. It's just trial-and-error. Eventually you're just going to quit, or you're going to keep striving to play harder and harder and hopefully overcome."