HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Jeromie Hill scored a career-high 36 points and UTSA withstood a 15-0 Marshall run in the second half for an 82-68 victory on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center.
The senior went 13-of-22 from the field, including 4-of-8 from behind the arc, and 6-of-9 at the charity stripe en route to the highest individual scoring effort by any Conference USA player this season and the most in the Brooks Thompson era.
Hill added eight rebounds for the Roadrunners (9-8, 3-3 C-USA), who also got 14 points from Kaj-Björn Sherman and a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds by Ryan Bowie. Keon Lewis also reached double figures with 10 points.
UTSA shot 48 percent from the floor and held a 42-29 edge on the glass.
Meanwhile, Ryan Taylor registered a double-double with 21 points and 11 boards to lead the Thundering Herd (4-15, 0-6 C-USA), who dropped their ninth consecutive game. Justin Edmonds and Austin Loop chipped in with 12 points apiece.
Marshall was held to 38.1 percent shooting, including a 25 percent mark in the first half.
Hill equaled Marshall’s point total in the opening 20 minutes and scored eight consecutive points to start the game as UTSA jumped out to a 10-3 lead.
The Roadrunners’ advantage continued to grow with the help of fellow Australian James Ringholt. The freshman, who finished with a season-high seven points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers and found Hill inside for a dunk during an 8-0 stretch that pushed the lead to 20-8 with 12 minutes to play in the half.
With a 31-18 cushion, the visitors rattled off another 8-0 spurt to take their largest lead of the period. Hill started the stretch with a jumper and added a dunk, while Keon Lewis drove to the hoop for a layup and Bowie, who also finished with five assists, and Ringholt each chipped in with a free throw.
Marshall scored the final five points of the half, but the Roadrunners took a 39-23 lead to intermission.
Hill added five points in the first two minutes of the second half for his new career best and UTSA grabbed its largest lead of the night, 51-27, on Sherman’s three-point play with 16:06 to go.
Hill drained a 3-pointer with 11:30 to play before the Roadrunners went cold from the field and the Thundering Herd got back in the game with their 15-0 run.
In all, UTSA went almost five minutes without scoring and a comfortable 22-point lead was trimmed to 58-51 with 7:32 remaining.
But Hill put a stop to the run with a three-point play to help UTSA regain a double-digit lead.
The Thundering Herd made one more run to trim the lead to 70-65 with 2:29 to play, but the Roadrunners went 10-of-11 at the free-throw line in the final two minutes to seal the team’s third straight road win.
UTSA will look to win its fourth straight road game when it travels to Bowling Green, Ky., for a 2 p.m. matchup at WKU (12-5, 5-0 C-USA) on Saturday. The contest can be seen on FOX College Sports, while fans in the San Antonio area also can tune to KBUC 92.5 FM for all the action.
