SAN ANTONIO — Jeff Beverly scored 21 points, but Conference USA-leading Middle Tennessee shot 60 percent in the second half and went on a 21-2 run to rally for a 69-59 victory on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
Beverly went 8-of-17 from the floor and scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half to pace the Roadrunners (9-13, 4-5 C-USA), who saw their nine-game home winning streak come to an end. It was the seventh game of at least 20 points for the junior and he was joined in double figures by Giovanni De Nicolao's dozen points.
Meanwhile, Giddy Potts netted a game-high 22 points to lead the Blue Raiders (20-3, 10-0 C-USA) and JaCorey Williams chipped in with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Middle Tennessee shot 46.3 percent for the contest after connecting on just 34.5 percent of its attempts in the first half.
Both teams got off to a hot start in a back-and-forth opening five minutes of the contest. Beverly got UTSA on the board with a 3-pointer and Lucas O'Brien and De Nicolao followed with four points each to knot the score at 11 with 15:20 on the clock.
However, both teams would lock in with a zone defense and the squads combined to score just four points over the next five minutes.
Gino Littles broke the 13-all tie and ignited a 7-0 UTSA run with a deep 3-pointer. Littles then picked Tyrik Dixon's pocket and drove in for a layup before De Nicolao finished the spurt with a pair of free throws that gave the Roadrunners a 20-13 lead.
In all, the UTSA defense held Middle Tennessee to just two points over a nearly 12 minute stretch, but the Blue Raiders came to life late in the half with a 10-0 run of their own. Potts fueled the run with a pair of treys and a long jumper that reclaimed a 23-20 advantage for the visitors.
O'Brien put an end to the Middle Tennessee run with a 3-pointer at the top of the key and runner by De Nicolao gave UTSA a slim 25-23 lead at halftime.
Byron Frohnen and Beverly connected on back-to-back buckets to start the second half to push the advantage to 29-23, but that's when the Blue Raiders caught fire and went on their game-changing 21-2 run.
Frohnen came up with UTSA's only points during the run, which ended on Dixon's jumper at the 10:38 mark that gave the visitors their largest cushion of the night, 44-31.
Nick Allen helped end the run with a pair of baskets and Frohnen delivered a perfect pass on a fast break that led to a dunk by George Willborn III. Beverly would score the next 14 points for the Roadrunners as they clawed back in the game.
A pair of free throws by Austin Karrer with 1:09 left pulled the Roadrunners within 59-53, but Middle Tennessee hit all eight of its free throws in the final 61 seconds to thwart any hopes of a comeback and claim the 69-59 victory to stay unbeaten in C-USA play.
UTSA will return to the hardwood at 3 p.m. on Saturday when it hosts UAB (12-8, 7-2 C-USA) at the Convocation Center.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Steve Henson
Question: How did you all feel coming in to today's game?
Steve Henson: I thought today's shoot-around was one of our best. We came in focused. We were ready to line up and play with confidence and attack and we did that in the first half. There is a lot to take away. Terrific team playing Middle Tennessee…watching the way they do things is good for our guys. They cut hard, they play hard, they're physical and they do a lot of things that we want to do and that we're going into.
Q: What about the way your defense played in the first half? It looked like the zone got into Middle Tennessee.
SH: We spent a couple of days this week trying to match up in zone. We've been playing zone periodically this year. We really tried to move more and match up more, and we weren't overly comfortable with it but once we mixed it with our regular zone, I thought that really helped. I thought we were active. We had active hands and weren't just guarding an area. It gave us a chance to throw a different look at them. We knew it would be tough to play 40 minutes of zone against them.
Q: It seems like you guys really got after them inside in the first half. They had a lot of trouble going to the basket during that run especially …
SH: Of all the positives, I think our aggressiveness, our fight and our toughness really stood out in the first half. Middle Tennessee's identity is toughness. They're veteran guys—big strong, tough guys—and they play that way. Our guys responded to the challenge pretty well. We ended up losing the battle of the boards, but they've been beating people by 7.5 boards and they beat us by five. There were a lot of positives there.
Q: What happened during that run during the second half that was the difference in today's game?
SH: No question. They were on both ends of the floor. They went 2-3 zone on us and we couldn't get a bucket. We couldn't get a shot or get it in the paint. It took us a while to get aggressive enough to throw it to the high post so we weren't scoring. There weren't major breakdowns. They were just winning some battles.
Q: Do you take this as a positive because you were able to stand toe-to-toe with them?
SH: Well, yes and no. I told our guys that this is Conference USA basketball. We can't come away from this feeling good. We lost the game. Our guys came in here expecting to win, which is the only way we can ever approach a game. There were positives. If we play with that approach every night, we'll give ourselves a chance. We won't win all of them, but I'm really happy with the way our guys approached it. We have to approach tomorrow now. Friday's are so important in this league. We have to work. We have one day to game plan for another great opponent.
Jeff Beverly, Jr., F
Question: You guys gave Middle Tennessee all they could handle. What do you take away from today's game?
Jeff Beverly: We played hard, we played together, but we have to do more. It's the little things.
Q: What were they doing inside that gave you guys so much trouble from that 18-0 run?
JB: They're a great rebounding team and they make shots. They have experienced guys and they zoned us really, really well. Usually teams man us, but they had a nice zone and it slowed us down.
Q: What were your expectations coming into this game, understanding that you all were undefeated at home?
JB: We just wanted to do what we do – play hard together, play smart and try to get the W. Tonight, we lost.
Q: What was coach's message in the locker room after the game?
JB: He said we have to bounce back and have a short-term memory so we can have a good day on Saturday.
Lucas O'Brien, Sr., C
Question: You guys gave Middle Tennessee all they could handle – what was that like?
Lucas O'Brien: They are one of the best teams in our league. I was proud of us for how we handled it in the first half, we just let them get too much of a lead in the second. We have a lot of growing to do from here. I think this is one of those points in our season where we can either get down on ourselves, or say you know what, we have to change something. We know what we can do with this loss so we just have to come back for UAB and be ready.
Q: What do you think this can do for you all going forward? They came in 19-3 and you all stuck with them.
LO: Coach Henson said that if we bring it like that in the first half every game, we can beat anyone in this league. I think the confidence that that brings is dangerous. We came in conference pretty strong with a couple of good wins and we have to bring that back.