SAN ANTONIO – Giovanni De Nicolao scored 10 of UTSA's final 15 points, Nick Allen gave the Roadrunners their final lead and Jhivvan Jackson sealed the game with a steal and layup in the waning seconds as UTSA rallied from as many as 16 down to defeat UTEP 65-61 Saturday night in front of 2,210 fans at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (10-10, 3-4 C-USA) fell behind early and spent the majority of the game trying to overtake UTEP (7-12, 2-5 C-USA) before doing so with a game-ending 15-8 run over the final seven minutes.
Keaton Wallace led UTSA in the points column with 20 on 7 of 12 shooting, including three 3-pointers. De Nicolao scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half, while Deon Lyle collected his 11th double-digit scoring performance of the season with 11 off the bench. Jackson, who made his first collegiate start, finished with 11 points.
UTEP was paced by Isiah Osborne's 20 points and Paul Thomas' 12.
Both teams closed the contest shooting below 40 percent as the Miners made 39.6 percent of their attempts and the Roadrunners 36.1 percent. UTSA controlled the boards 43-32 and allowed only one UTEP offensive rebound.
UTEP took a nine-point lead 2:49 into the second half, but went cold over the next five-plus minutes as UTSA used five points from Wallace and two from De Nicolao to make it a one-possession game at 49-47 with 11:37 to play. UTEP later led 53-50 at the under-8 media timeout before De Nicolao converted consecutive layups to give the Roadrunners a 54-53 lead at the 6:50 mark.
Osborne answered a few possessions later to put the Miners back in front by a point. Neither team scored for the next three-plus minutes until De Nicolao made a pair at the line to push UTSA up 56-55 with 2:19 to go. De Nicolao, Omega Harris and Evan Gilayrd shared the next six points at the free-throw line, leaving the Miners up 59-58 with 1:11 to play in regulation.
De Nicolao put UTSA ahead by one as he spun in a layup after a timeout. However, the lead would be short lived as Thomas answered with a bucket in the paint to give UTEP its final lead of the night with 41 seconds remaining. Allen then scored on a floater from the elbow and on UTEP's ensuing possession Jackson picked Harris' pocket at the top of the arc and raced down the floor and laid in an uncontested layup for a 64-61 Roadrunner lead. Wallace provided the 65-61 final with a free-throw for his 20th point of the night.
De Nicolao made a trey to open the game's scoring, but UTEP reeled off 21 of the game's next 23 points for a 21-5 lead at the 13:53 mark. The Roadrunners were 1 of 12 during the Miner run before Wallace sank a three from the top of the arc with 12:35 showing on the clock. UTSA chipped away at the Miners' lead over the four minutes, cutting their deficit to five on a Kendell Ramlal dunk. However, UTEP responded with points on four of its next five possessions to an 11-point lead with 3:34 to go before the break.
UTSA put together a 9-2 run that included two 3-pointers by Lyle over the remainder to cut UTEP's halftime lead to 42-38.
The Miners shot and impressive 55 percent in the opening 20 minutes, while UTSA made 39 percent of its attempts.
Up next
UTSA takes to the road for a two-game Conference USA road trip at Middle Tennessee and UAB. The Roadrunners play at Middle Tennessee on Thursday, Jan. 25 (6:30 p.m.) and at UAB on Saturday, Jan. 27 (7 p.m.).
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