SAN ANTONIO — Christian Wilson scored a career-high 28 points to go along with nine rebounds and five assists, but Florida Atlantic hit 13 3-pointers en route to an 86-71 victory at UTSA on Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center.
Wilson went 10-for-17 from the floor and hit seven free throws to pace the Roadrunners (4-16, 2-5 C-USA). It was the third 20-point outing this season for the Baton Rouge, La., native and it came a week after he scored 25 to help UTSA defeat UTEP.
Lucas O’Brien tied his career best with 12 points and J.R. Harris added 10.
Meanwhile, Jeantal Cylla led the Owls (5-15, 3-4 C-USA) with 22 points behind four 3-pointers and Adonis Filer chipped in with 16. Florida Atlantic shot 46.2 percent on its was to a season-high point total.
After a back-and-forth opening minutes, Wilson gave UTSA a 10-9 lead with a 3-pointer. The Owls responded with an 11-0 run, part of a stretch in which they made six consecutive shots, to grab the lead for the rest of the half.
Trailing 20-10 following the Florida Atlantic spurt, the Roadrunners put together a 9-0 run of their own to trim the deficit to just one. Lucas O’Brien started the rally with a layup following Nick Allen’s steal and Wilson scored the next seven points.
Florida Atlantic was able to stretch the lead to as much as eight twice in the final five minutes of the half.
Wilson drove to the lane and scored the last of his 18 first-half points with four seconds left in the period, but UTSA trailed 38-34 at intermission.
Ryan Bowie opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut the Owls’ lead to just 38-37, but UTSA would get no closer the rest of the afternoon.
Florida Atlantic rattled off a 7-0 run minutes later for a 49-39 advantage. Facing a 51-41 deficit, the Roadrunners got a pair of baskets from Harris and another from O’Brien to slice the lead to 51-47.
UTSA trailed by four with 11 minutes to play, but saw Florida Atlantic go on a 14-3 run over the next four minutes for a 69-54 cushion and the advantage would not dip below 11 points the rest of the way.
UTSA will be back in action at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28 at Louisiana Tech (13-5, 2-3 C-USA).