SAN ANTONIO — UTSA opened the game on a 12-0 run and never trailed in a 77-57 win over Southern Miss on Thursday night at the Convocation Center for the 500th triumph in program history.
Keon Lewis led four players in double figures for the Roadrunners (7-6, 2-1 C-USA), who shot a season-high 56.3 percent in the game, with 16 points and a career-best seven assists. Ryan Bowie drained a season-high five 3-pointers, while Kaj-Bjorn Sherman added 14 points and Jeromie Hill chipped in 10.
Lewis went 6-of-9 from the floor, including a season-high three triples, while Sherman went a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor to go along with seven boards and a block.
UTSA hit a season-best 13 3-pointers and shot 52 percent behind the arc, while it held a 28-25 edge on the glass.
Meanwhile, reigning Conference USA Player of the Week Chip Armelin paced the Golden Eagles (5-8, 0-2 C-USA) with 19 points and Norville Carey hit seven of his eight attempts en route to 16 points off the bench.
UTSA opened the contest on fire from the floor and hit four of its first five shots, all from behind the arc, for a quick 12-0 run. Lewis assisted on all four treys as the senior found Bowie for three consecutive 3-pointers before a Gino Littles triple capped the stretch and caused the Golden Eagles to call timeout.
Southern Miss rattled off seven straight points before Lewis got in on the act with a 3-pointer of his own. Bowie and Littles each connected again from downtown before James Ringholt drained another to push the UTSA lead to 26-12. In all, eight of the squad’s first nine makes from the field were triples.
Those baskets were part of a stretch where the Roadrunners made 11-of-12 attempts overall and Lewis’ three-point play with 6:11 to play before halftime gave UTSA its largest lead of the stanza, 40-19.
However, Southern Miss began to heat up and chip away at the deficit. The Golden Eagles outscored the Roadrunners 13-4 over the final 5:16, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, to pull within 44-32 at intermission.
Much like the first half, UTSA started fast in the final 20 minutes with a 10-2 run to push its lead back to 20, 54-34.
The Roadrunners led 57-36 before the Golden Eagles went on an 8-0 run to get back in the game.
However, Bowie connected on his fifth 3-pointer of the night and Christian Wilson turned a Lewis steal into a highlight-reel dunk to end the threat. An Armelin layup closed the gap to 16, 63-47, with 8:46 to play, but a Sherman free throw and another trey by Lewis jumped the lead to 20 and Southern Miss would get no closer the rest of the way.
A pair of freebies from Wilson, who finished with nine points, gave the home squad their largest advantage, 74-49, and the Roadrunners cruised to the 77-57 final.
UTSA will look to extend its winning streak at 2 p.m. on Saturday, when it hosts Louisiana Tech (11-4, 2-0 C-USA) at the Convocation Center.