SAN ANTONIO — UTSA led by as much as 18 points in the first half, but Ja’Michael Brown scored 18 of his career-high 21 points in the final 20 minutes as North Texas rallied for a 70-66 victory on Friday night in the Conference USA opener for both squads.
Ryan Bowie led the Roadrunners (2-12, 0-1 C-USA) with 20 points and seven rebounds for his seventh game with at least 20 points this season. Gino Littles added 10 points off the bench and UTSA held a 39-36 advantage on the glass.
Meanwhile, Brown went 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-9 from behind the arc to pace the Mean Green (6-8, 1-0 C-USA), who rattled off a 21-2 run in the second half to take the lead for good. Deckie Johnson added 18 points, while J-Mychal Reese chipped in with 15 points.
UTSA held a 40-25 halftime lead, but North Texas opened the second half on a 14-5 run that included a barrage from behind the arc. Brown sandwiched a pair of triples around a Johnson trey to start his big second half and the run trimmed the Roadrunners’ lead to 45-39.
J.R. Harris, Bowie and Littles helped push the lead back to 51-42 with 12 minutes to play, but a Brown layup on North Texas’ next possession ignited the 21-2 run that gave the Mean Green the lead for good.
Bowie hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to end the run, but North Texas led 63-56 with just less than four minutes to go.
UTSA made it a one-possession game following a pair of Bowie free throws for a 64-61 deficit and again after a Littles layup with 29 ticks left (66-63), but could not get any closer.
After a back and forth start, the Roadrunners had a 7-0 burst that set the stage for the action for the first half. During the stretch, UTSA forced three turnovers and the squad would go on to forced 12 Mean Green miscues and score 16 points off those mistakes.
North Texas tied the score at 11 and 13-all before the Roadrunners again turned Mean Green errors into points.
The first of three Bowie 3-pointers in the opening half broke the 13-13 tie and UTSA would outscore North Texas 27-9 the rest of the half. Bowie would hit another trey and baskets by Lucas O’Brien and Littles along with free throws from James Ringholt helped push the lead to 26-20 with 5:28 to go in the half.
North Texas aided the scoring with six turnovers and UTSA would follow with a 14-2 run for its largest lead of the night, 40-22.
A free throw by Littles and layup by O’Brien started the run and the pair followed with back-to-back baskets inside. O’Brien tacked on a free throw before Bowie and Ringholt hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the 18-point advantage and UTSA would take a 40-25 lead to halftime.
UTSA will be back in action at 3 p.m. on Sunday when it will host Rice (5-8) at the Convocation Center.