SAN ANTONIO — Nick Billingsley scored a career-high 29 points and UTSA shot a season-best 55 percent on its way to an 88-69 victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
Billingsley went 10-for-17 from the floor, including 6-for-12 from behind the arc, to go along with three free throws to lead the Roadrunners (3-7), who improved to 3-0 at home. Jeff Beverly neared a double-double with 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Lucas O'Brien and Gino Littles added season highs of 12 and 11 points, respectively.
In addition to its season-high field goal percentage, UTSA notched season bests with 13 3-pointers and 22 assists on its 33 baskets. The Roadrunners scored 34 points in the paint and turned 19 forced turnovers into 29 points.
Meanwhile, Gianpalo Riccio paced the Savage Storm (4-5) with 16 points behind four 3-pointers.
Beverly and Billingsley led UTSA in the early minutes as the pair combined to score the team's first 20 points. Beverly got things rolling with a 3-pointer and a layup before Billingsley came off the bench and hit a pair of free throws. Another Beverly trey, part of 14 first-half points for the junior, was followed by 10 consecutive points by Billingsley.
The senior provided all of the offense in a 10-1 UTSA run that gave the home squad a 20-13 lead and it would not trail the rest of the afternoon.
The Savage Storm crawled back in the game and trailed 24-23 on Marti Fonolla's 3-pointer with 7:56 before halftime, but the Roadrunners would allow just two Southeastern Oklahoma State baskets the rest of the half and went on a 14-2 run of their own.
Littles, who earned his first start of the season, ignited the run with a trey before Beverly came up with a steal and fast break dunk. George Willborn III, Byron Frohnen and Beverly all scored in the paint before another Littles 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 38-25.
Southeastern Oklahoma State broke a nearly eight-minute drought from the field with two baskets in the final 14 seconds of the half, but UTSA took a 42-34 lead to intermission.
The Savage Storm seized momentum early in the second half when Riccio hit three consecutive treys to trim the UTSA lead to 47-45. However, the Roadrunners responded with 11 straight points and Southeastern Oklahoma State would not get closer than 11 the rest of the game.
Beverly started the spurt with an old-fashioned three-point play and Billingsley capped the run with back-to-back 3-pointers and a dunk following a Littles steal.
The Roadrunners put the game away midway through the second half with a 13-0 run that featured treys from O'Brien and Billingsley. The stretch gave the home squad its largest lead of the contest, 80-54, and the Roadrunners coasted to the 88-69 final.
UTSA will be back in action next Sunday, Dec. 18 when it will travel down I-37 for a matchup at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-2).
