SAN ANTONIO — Christian Wilson scored a career-high 29 points, but Marshall hit 18 3-pointers to register a 109-91 victory over UTSA on Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center.
Wilson hit eight shots and a career-best 12 free throws to lead the Roadrunners (4-20, 2-9 C-USA), while Ryan Bowie hit four 3-pointers and totaled 26 points for his 11th game of at least 20 points this season. Phillip Jones added a season-high 12 points as UTSA, which scored a season-best 91 points, shot 42.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Jon Elmore went 7-of-12 from behind the arc on his way to 23 points to pace the Thundering Herd (12-12, 8-3 C-USA), who registered 30 assists. James Kelly neared a double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds and Austin Loop added 17 points.
The Thundering Herd shot 55.4 percent and hit 11 3-pointers in the second half.
Marshall opened the contest with a 7-0 run as the teams started slowly on the offensive end, combining to shoot 2-of-16 in the opening minutes. The first four buckets for the Thundering Herd all came from behind the arc to help build a 15-5 lead.
Wilson found Austin Karrer for a dunk, one of his five assists in the opening half, to again make it a 10-point game, but Marshall hit 10 consecutive shots to extend the lead to 38-21.
Facing their biggest deficit of the half, the Roadrunners put together a 15-3 run of their own to pull within 41-36 with 2:35 before halftime.
Bowie started the stretch with a pair of layups before Wilson scored the team’s next six points at the free-throw line. Bowie then found Lucas O’Brien for a layup and Wilson closed the run with a free throw and another layup to close the gap.
However, the Thundering Herd responded with four consecutive free throws to help the visitors outscore UTSA 11-4 the rest of the half and tally a 52-40 advantage at intermission.
O’Brien opened the second half with a jumper in the paint, but Kelly, Loop and Elmore each hit treys in consecutive possessions for a quick 9-0 spurt that pushed the Marshall lead to 61-42 and forced a UTSA timeout.
The Roadrunners responded with eight straight points of their own as Bowie hit a triple and a 17-foot jumper before J.R. Harris completed an old fashioned three-point play that pulled the home squad within 61-50 with 16:21 to play.
Loop and Bowie traded 3-pointers and another Elmore trey pushed the Thundering Herd advantage to 72-55 with 13:43 remaining. From there, UTSA could get no closer than a dozen, 73-61, as Marshall scored the 109-91
UTSA will be back on the road in the Sunshine State for a pair of games next week, first against Florida Atlantic (6-17, 4-6 C-USA) at 6 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, Feb. 11.