CORPUS CHRISTI — Sophomore Melvin Johnson III and senior Devin Gibson combined to score 36 points and UTSA stopped a five-game losing streak with a 55-47 victory at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.
Johnson III poured in 19 points behind 8-for-15 shooting and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in his first career start to help the Roadrunners improve to 7-7 on the season and 1-1 in Southland Conference play.
Gibson added 17 points — 15 in the second half — behind a 9-for-9 effort at the free throw line and he grabbed a team-high eight boards to go along with seven assists and four steals. With his first basket at the 5:06 mark of the first half, Gibson eclipsed 1,300 career points and eventually passed former All-American McEverett Powers (1,307) for fourth place all-time with his 11th double-digit outing of the season.
UTSA held a double-digit lead early, but it had to fight off repeated runs by the Islanders (5-11, 0-2 SLC).
The game was tied at 25 at the half, but Garland Judkins put the Islanders up, 29-27, with a floating jumper in the lane early in the second to give them their first lead since the first minute of the game.
The Roadrunners responded with a 9-0 run and took a 36-29 advantage on the third trey of the night by Johnson III with 12:36 to play.
Texas A&M-Corpus Chrsti fought back to within 44-42, as Justin Reynolds capped an 8-4 run with a fast-break dunk at the 4:33 mark.
UTSA answered the call with a 3-point play by Gibson and a layup by junior Larry Wilkins helped open up a 49-42 lead.
The Islanders then reeled off five unanswered behind a Demond Watt dunk and free throw and another Reynolds layup to make it a two-point contest with less than two minutes to go.
The Roadrunners missed a 3-pointer, but Johnson III grabbed the offensive board and found Gibson, who was fouled and made both free throws to give UTSA a 51-47 lead with 1:13 to play.
Terrence Jones had a chance to pull A&M-Corpus Christi to within two, but he missed a wide-open layup. Gibson secured the rebound, was fouled with 22.3 ticks left and made both free throws to make it 53-47.
Jones missed a long three from the top of the circle, Gibson again pulled down the rebound and was fouled, making two more at the line for the final eight-point margin.
UTSA shot 42 percent from the floor and was 9-of-10 from the charity stripe behind Gibson’s perfect night. The Roadrunners also out-rebounded the Islanders, 35-31, and committed only 12 turnovers, three of which came in the deciding second half.
Freshman Jeromie Hill joined Johnson III and Gibson in double figures with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, A&M-Corpus Christi shot just 36.5 percent, including a 2-for-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc.
Chris Mast led the Islanders with 16 points, while Watt scored nine and pulled down a game-best 11 boards.
The Roadrunners made seven of their first nine shots of the game, including a pair of 3-pointers from Johnson III and another trey by Hill, to take an early 17-5 lead. Meanwhile, the Islanders missed 11 consecutive shots during a 10-minute stretch in falling behind by double digits in the first half for the third meeting in a row.
A&M-Corpus Christi then used a 9-2 run that was capped by a Mast steal and layup to pull to within five points with just under six minutes to play in the first. A reverse layup by Mast at the 3:31 mark cut the deficit to 23-21. Hollis Hill then knotted the score at 25 in the final minute with another reverse layup.
UTSA returns home to host Stephen F. Austin (10-4, 1-1 SLC) on Saturday night. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center and the game will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable's channel 50.
