EDINBURG — Jeromie Hill scored a game-high 18 points and UTSA opened the second half on a 19-5 run to blow open the game en route to a 68-43 victory at Texas-Pan American on Monday night at UTPA Fieldhouse.
Jeromie Hill led the Roadrunners (8-7), who shot 54.8 percent in the second half and 46.6 percent for the game, with 18 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Bowie tied a season-high with five 3-pointers en route to 15 points, while Kaj-Björn Sherman added 14 points and nine boards and Keon Lewis chipped in 12 points.
UTSA recorded a season-best 20 assists and scored 26 points off of 18 forced turnovers.
Meanwhile, Dam Kimasa paced the Broncs (7-10), who finished with a season-low 43 points on its worst shooting night of the campaign, with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
With a 29-23 halftime lead, Hill got the Roadrunners started in the final 20 minutes with back-to-back baskets to help jump start the 19-5 run.
A Sherman layup and three-point play by Lewis pushed the lead to double digits, 38-26, for the first time. Another Sherman basket was followed by Bowie’s fifth triple of the night. Lewis then dropped a 3-pointer of his own and Hill capped the stretch with a bucket for a 48-28 cushion.
UTSA held at least a 20-point advantage for the final 8:47 and led by as much as 29, 68-39, on Tyler Flores’ 3-pointer in the final minute and it cruised to the 68-43 final.
Texas-Pan American took an early 5-2 lead following a 3-pointer from Janari Joesaar, who came into the game as the leading scorer in the Western Athletic Conference and finished with a season-low nine points, but Gino Littles, who finished with a season-high six assists, found Jeromie Hill for a trey before an assist to Sherman for a basket inside as part of seven straight points for the visitors.
It was the first of six lead changes in the first half as the teams stayed close for most of the first 20 minutes.
The Broncs led 14-13 before Bowie began to heat up behind the arc.
The Lewisville native connected on three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Roadrunners their largest lead of the stanza, 22-14, with six minutes to go before halftime.
Texas-Pan American responded with a 7-0 run that ended on Sherman’s three-point play. UTSA had a 26-23 advantage with less than a minute to go and after working the clock, Bowie connected on his fourth trey of the period to give the visitors a 29-23 halftime edge.
UTSA will return to Conference USA action at 2 p.m. on Saturday when it hosts UTEP (11-5, 3-1 C-USA) at the Convocation Center.