SAN ANTONIO — Christian Wilson scored a career-high 25 points to help UTSA erase a 15-point second-half deficit and rally for a 71-67 victory against UTEP on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Wilson went 6-of-15 from the floor and drilled 11 free throws to go along with nine rebounds and five assists to pace the Roadrunners (4-14, 2-3 C-USA), who snapped a four-game losing streak to their in-state foes. Lucas O’Brien tied a career-best with 12 points, while J.R. Harris added 10.
Meanwhile, Terry Winn and Hooper Vint led four players in double figures for the Miners (10-8, 3-2 C-USA), who dropped their third straight, with 12 points apiece. UTEP shot 44.8 percent for the contest, but was limited to just 33 percent in the second half.
The Miners extended a 10-point halftime advantage to 52-37 with 14:48 to play before the Roadrunners began to chip away at the deficit.
Wilson scored eight straight points with a pair of triples and a layup, but Lee Moore’s jumper with 12 minutes to go held a double-digit advantage, 56-45.
However, the UTSA defense stiffened to help the Roadrunners go on a 15-4 run and tie the score at 60 with seven minutes remaining.
Nick Allen started the rally with a jumper before Austin Karrer found Ryan Bowie for a transition 3-pointer that forced a UTEP timeout. O’Brien and Wilson each hit a pair of free throws before back-to-back layups from Bowie and Harris trimmed the Miners advantage to 59-58.
Following an Earvin Morris free throw, A.J. Cockrell capped the spurt with a layup to knot the game at 60 and set the stage for a tense finish.
It remained a one-possession game for the next six minutes and the teams tied at 62, 64 and 66 before Wilson’s layup with 1:23 on the clock gave the home squad the lead for good.
O’Brien drained two more free throws and Harris added another with 36 seconds to play that put the finishing touches on the 71-67 victory.
In all, the UTSA defense forced the Miners to miss 12 of their final 14 shots, including 6-of-7 misses after the Roadrunners tied the score at 60 with seven minuets to play.
The first half featured back-and-forth scoring until the final minutes, when UTEP outscored the Roadrunners 13-5 over the final three minutes for a 43-33 halftime lead.
Prior to that burst neither team had more than a two-possession lead. James Ringholt put UTSA on the board first on a basket set up by a nifty pass from Wilson and the sophomore added a 3-pointer minutes later to tie the score, 7-7.
A Harris steal set up the first of two highlight dunks in the opening half for UTSA as he found Wilson, a fellow Baton Rouge, La., native, for a fast break dunk. Wilson was fouled on the play and sank the free throw for a 15-14 advantage.
Cockrell capped a 7-0 stretch for the home squad with an offensive rebound and basket for a 17-14 cushion.
However, UTEP would score the next six points and it would not trail until there was 5:35 to play in the game.
The Miners held a 30-24 that Wilson cut into with a pair of free throws before his steal set up a thunderous alley-oop dunk by Phillip Jones to trim the deficit to 30-28.
UTEP hit three 3-pointers in the final 3:14 of the half, including a pair by Trey Touchet in the last 18 seconds, to pull away for a 43-33 cushion at intermission.
UTSA will be back in action for a 7 p.m. contest against FIU (9-8, 3-1 C-USA) on Thursday, Jan. 21 at the Convocation Center.