SAN ANTONIO — Giovanni De Nicolao's layup with two seconds left lifted UTSA to a 91-89 comeback exhibition victory over Arkansas Tech on Monday night in head coach Steve Henson's first game at the Convocation Center.
Jeff Beverly and Nick Allen recorded double-doubles as the Roadrunners erased a 13-point second-half deficit to win their 17th consecutive exhibition contest. Beverly led the way with game highs of 28 points, on 10-of-16 shooting, and 13 rebounds, while Allen added 16 points and 11 boards. J.R. Harris hit three 3-pointers on his way to 15 points, while De Nicolao joined the group in double figures with 12 points.
Meanwhile, the Wonder Boys hit 15 3-pointers on the night and were led by 24 points from Trevon Woods and Montrell Williams added another 20 off the bench.
Arkansas Tech stretched an eight-point halftime lead 12, 58-46, on a Grant Prusator trey, which was the team's 10th of the contest. The visitors led by double-digits for most of the next five minutes and another Woods 3-pointer made it 68-57 with 12:21 left to play.
However, the Roadrunners began to chip away at the deficit with an 8-2 run that was fueled by the team's defense. UTSA held the Wonder Boys without a basket for 3:37 as De Nicolao hit a jumper and a pair of free throws before George Willborn III's put-back dunk and two more freebies from Allen closed the gap to 69-65.
But Arkansas Tech kept at least a two possession lead and extended its advantage to 84-76 on another Woods 3-pointer with five minutes left.
The Roadrunners responded with a 7-0 run that included a jumper and two free throws from Beverly and a trey by Allen. UTSA answered a Williams layup with two more Beverly makes at the charity stripe and Willborn III's spinning layup with 2:14 to play gave the home squad its first lead since the 9:50 mark of the first half.
Justin Graham drilled a 3-pointer, the 15th for the Wonder Boys, with 55 seconds remaining for an 89-87 advantage, but it would prove to be their final of the night.
Beverly slipped a pass to De Nicolao for a layup to knot the score at 89 with 40 seconds left and a Roadrunners defensive stop set the stage for a dramatic finish. Following a UTSA timeout with 13 seconds left, De Nicolao dribbled down the floor and banked a runner from the wing with two seconds left for the 91-89 lead.
An Arkansas Tech desperation heave at the buzzer fell short to complete the Roadrunners' comeback.
The Roadrunners' new faces led the way throughout much of the night, beginning with a Beverly three-point play that gave the home squad their first points of the contest. Byron Frohnen, who finished with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting, and De Nicolao also scored inside along with a 3-pointer by Harris and a baseline jumper from Lucas O'Brien to give UTSA an early 17-13 advantage.
However, Arkansas Tech began to heat up from behind the 3-point line after a slow start. The visitors made three straight triples to turn the deficit into a slim 22-20 advantage. De Nicolao slowed the momentum with a nifty move in the paint for a layup minutes later to regain the lead, but Woods scored the next 10 points for the Wonder Boys, who would not trail again until late in the second half.
Beverly scored the final seven points of the period for UTSA on a layup, back-to-back 17-foot jumpers and a free throw only to see Arkansas Tech score four points in the last 45 seconds to take a 48-40 cushion to halftime.
The League City native nearly collected his double-double in the opening half with 14 points and eight rebounds to lead the Roadrunners, who had 27 of their 40 points come from players making their UTSA debut.
UTSA will open its 36th season of play at 9 p.m. (CT) on Friday when it travels west for a matchup at Fresno State. The game will be broadcast by the Mountain West Network.
