SAN ANTONIO — Jeff Beverly picked up his first double-double with career highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds and UTSA pushed its home winning streak to eight games with a 68-63 victory against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
Coming off a 27-point outing in Saturday's win at Louisiana Tech, Beverly went 12-for-23 from the floor to pace the Roadrunners (8-9, 3-1 C-USA), who are off to their best-ever start in Conference USA play. Reigning C-USA Freshman of the Week Giovanni De Nicolao added 12 points, nine of which came in the second half, and Gino Littles finished with 11 points, including a big 3-pointer in the closing minutes.
UTSA scored 32 points in the paint, pulled down 39 rebounds and committed a season-low eight turnovers. The home squad also finished with 15 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points.
Meanwhile, Gerdarius Troutman come off the bench to hit five triples en route to a team-high 16 points for the Owls (5-10, 1-3 C-USA). Nick Rutherford added 14 points and Jailyn Ingram chipped in with a dozen.
Florida Atlantic stretched a four-point halftime lead to as much as nine in the early minutes of the second half as Troutman's hot shooting from behind the arc shut down the Roadrunners' attempts to rally.
A Troutman 3-pointer with 13:21 to play gave the visitors a 47-38 lead with 13:21 to play, but Littles countered with a trey of his own that ignited an 11-2 run to knot the score at 49.
Beverly drilled a jumper before a free throw from Lucas O'Brien and a 3-pointer by De Nicolao brought the home crowd to its feet. Austin Karrer then came up with a steal and the junior's dunk capped the run and forced the Owls to call a timeout.
The UTSA defense was key during the run by forcing four turnovers and it held Florida Atlantic without a point for three minutes to get back into the game.
The Roadrunners would tie the score three more times, but Florida Atlantic did not relinquish its lead until a Beverly free throw pushed UTSA over the hump for a slim 56-55 advantage, which was its first since the opening minutes.
The Owls pulled ahead again on Adonis Filer's 3-pointer with 5:53 left and they led until De Nicolao's acrobatic layup with 2:16 on the clock knotted the score at 59 and set the stage for a thrilling finish.
On UTSA's next possession, Littles stepped up for perhaps the biggest shot of the night as he drilled a 3-pointer just before the shot clock went off for a 62-59 lead and the Roadrunners would not trail again.
Rutherford kept the Owls close with a pair of baskets in the final minute, only to watch Beverly put the finishing touches on his career night with six points in the final 32 seconds.
The junior's free throws with two seconds left put the game away and made the final margin 68-63.
After a back-and-forth start, Florida Atlantic grabbed the upper hand with an 8-0 run that was aided by a pair of Troutman 3-pointers for a 21-10 lead.
However, Beverly got the Roadrunners back in the game with seven consecutive points as part of an 11-2 run to pull the home squad within a basket, 23-21.
Beverly hit a long jumper before a spinning move on the baseline that resulted in a layup. The junior then drove inside and finished through contact and converted a free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play. Nick Allen had the final two buckets of the run with a layup and a jumper of his own.
But the Owls would push the lead back up to eight, 33-25, following a three-point play from Rutherford and the visitors took a 33-28 advantage to halftime.
UTSA will look to extend its home streak to nine games at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14 when it hosts FIU (4-12, 0-3 C-USA) at the Convocation Center.
