SAN ANTONIO — Ryan Bowie recorded his sixth career double-double with a game-high 27 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, but UT-Permian Basin hit 12 3-pointers and held off a late charge for a 90-85 victory on Sunday night at the Convocation Center.
Bowie went 8-of-17 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and added a 9-of-12 effort from the charity stripe to lead the Roadrunners (1-6). A.J. Cockrell finished with a season-best 16 points and seven boards, while Gino Littles and J.R. Harris contributed 10 points apiece.
UTSA shot 48.3 percent for the contest and made a second-half surge by shooting 50 percent (15-of-30) in the final 20 minutes. The Roadrunners scored 48 points in the paint and got 36 points from their bench.
Meanwhile, Gary Akbar paced the Falcons (5-2) with 20 points as he went 7-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. UT Permian Basin also got 16 points from Billy Dee Williams and another dozen from Johnnie Lacy.
The Falcons extended a 40-35 halftime lead to 75-64 with just 7:33 to play before the Roadrunners rattled off a 14-3 run to tie the score at 78.
Bowie started the run with a pair of free throws before a Harris layup. The senior then drove inside and dunked over a defender and hit two more freebies. Cockrell answered a UT-Permian Basin free throw with one of his own before Nick Allen scored inside and Harris capped the spurt with a 3-pointer with four minutes to play.
However, UTSA was unable to get over the hump.
The Roadrunners trailed by just one three times in the final minutes, including and 86-85 margin after a layup by Littles with 31 seconds remaining.
Tramique Sutherland hit a pair of free throws for an 87-85 cushion and the UT Permian Basin defense swatted away a layup attempt and raced to the other end for an easy basket of its own in the final seconds for the 90-85 final.
Bowie opened the game with back-to-back baskets to help UTSA to a 9-2 start. The Roadrunners hit four of their first 5 shots during the stretch, but saw UT Permian Basin take a 15-11 lead with a 13-2 run.
With a 15-15 tie minutes later, the Falcons rattled off seven straight points for a 22-15 cushion. Bowie put an end to the run with a 3-pointer before Littles found James Ringholt for a bucket in transition to slice the deficit to 22-20.
The Falcons lead grew to as much as 29-22, but UTSA came back to trim the deficit to just a basket three times in the final two minutes. Each time, UT Permian Basin responded with a bucket of its own and the Falcons took a 40-35 lead to halftime.
UTSA will return to the road for a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at I-35 rival Texas State (2-1).