MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — J.R. Harris led four UTSA players in double figures with 20 points, but Middle Tennessee held the Roadrunners without a point over the final four minutes to rally for a 79-71 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Murphy Center.
Harris followed his 36-point outing on Thursday with four more 3-pointers to go along with a perfect 8-for-8 effort at the free-throw line to pace the Roadrunners (3-14, 1-3 C-USA), while Christian Wilson added 16 points, a career-high seven assists and five rebounds.
Ryan Bowie chipped in with his fifth double-double of the season behind 15 points and 10 rebounds and Lucas O’Brien neared a career best with 11 points. UTSA shot 44.2 percent for the contest and scored 24 points in the paint.
Meanwhile, Giddy Potts led the Blue Raiders (10-5, 2-1 C-USA) with 26 points and Darnell Harris added 15 points. Middle Tennessee shot 45.3 percent and scored 20 points off 18 turnovers.
Middle Tennessee led in the early minutes before a triple from Bowie gave the visitors their first lead, 7-5. UTSA took a 14-12 advantage on an old-fashioned three-point play by Christian Wilson and the Roadrunners stretched the cushion to 19-14 minutes later with an offensive rebound and basket by Phillip Jones.
However, the Blue Raiders scored the next six points for a short-lived 20-19 lead as the Roadrunners responded with a 12-2 run and they would hold the lead for the rest of the half.
Wilson started the rally with a pair of free throws before Harris buried a 3-pointer and two freebies of his own. Following a Harris steal, Bowie finished a three-point play and Harris helped close the stretch on an assist of a Lucas O’Brien basket.
When the dust had settled, UTSA had a 31-22 cushion with four minutes to go in the half.
UTSA stayed hot at the free-throw line, where they went 19-of-20 in the first period, and two at the charity stripe from Harris pushed the Roadrunners’ advantage to 39-29, their largest lead of the half.
Leading 42-34 at intermission, the Roadrunners wasted little time in extending the lead again as James Ringholt found Harris in the corner for a trey. But the Blue Raiders hit three 3-pointers to quickly close the gap to 45-43 and set the stage for a close final 17 minutes.
A Wilson basket and O’Brien dunk helped UTSA extend the lead to 54-46, but Middle Tennessee went on an 11-3 run to tie the score at 57 with 11:04 to play.
Minutes later, Nick Allen found O’Brien inside for another basket to give the Roadrunners a 64-63 lead only to see the Blue Raiders score the next eight points to take the lead for good.
A pair of free throws from Wilson and a Bowie 3-pointer trimmed the Middle Tennessee lead to 71-69 with 4:43 remaining, but it would prove to be the final basket of the game for the Roadrunners.
With 4:17 on the clock, Wilson drained two more at the charity stripe to again cut into the deficit, 72-71. However, the Blue Raiders defense forced five turnovers and three missed shots the rest of the way to pull away for the 79-71 win.
UTSA will return home for a 3 p.m. matchup with UTEP (10-7, 2-2 C-USA) next Saturday, Jan. 16.