SAN ANTONIO – Down four in the middle stages of the second half, junior Deon Lyle made back-to-back deep 3-pointers to give UTSA a lead it would not relinquish as the Roadrunners defeated LA Tech 74-64 Saturday evening in the Convocation Center.
Lyle led four Roadrunners in double-figures with his 17 points, which included five 3-pointers to go along with seven rebounds. Giovanni De Nicolao scored 11, while Byron Frohnen and Keaton Wallace, who had a game-high eight assists, each finished with 10. Frohnen was UTSA's top rebounder with nine as he just missed his first double-double of the season.
The victory improved the Roadrunners to 17-12 overall and 10-6 in Conference USA play. UTSA is now 22-6 at the Convocation Center under head coach Steve Henson, posting 11-3 records both this year and last.
Jacobi Boykins poured in 17 to lead LA Tech (16-14, 7-10 C-USA). Oliver Powell scored 14 and Exavian Christon 11 to lead the Bulldog offense.
UTSA outshot the Bulldogs 47 percent to 35 percent, including a 40 percent to 24 percent from beyond the arc. Both teams grabbed 36 rebounds, but UTSA took advantage 24-20 in the paint and more than double the LA Tech bench production (35-17).
LA Tech took a pair of four-point leads in the opening minutes of the second half. However, each time the Roadrunners answered with threes to either tie or regain the lead. Wallace first tied the game at 40 on his second triple of the night, then after LA Tech went up 44-40, Lyle made a 24-footer and a 26-footer to sandwich a Kendell Ramlal block and put the Roadrunners ahead 46-44 at the under-12 media timeout.
UTSA never trailed from that point on, outscoring the Bulldogs 28-20 the rest of the way. LA Tech cut the UTSA lead to 50-49, but Lyle again answered with a three at the 7:54 mark to put the Roadrunners up by multiple possessions for the first time. Minutes later Christon tied the game at 53 with a score inside.
This time it was De Nicolao that responded with four of UTSA's next six points along with an assist to Frohnen, which gave UTSA a 59-53 lead with 4:40 to go. LA Tech kept it a two-possession game into the final minute despite a thunderous dunk by Allen and a clutch corner three by De Nicolao.
The Roadrunners broke away for the 10-point win in the final 51 seconds with two Frohnen free throws, four empty LA Tech possessions and Ramlal final-second exclamation dunk.
UTSA opened the game with the rare Byron Frohnen to George Willborn III alley-oop play but trailed 12-10 when freshman guard Jhivvan Jackson went down with an injury on a fast break at the 15:31 mark. LA Tech increased its lead to as many as six before Lyle leveled the score at 18-18 with consecutive 3-pointers.
LA Tech later stretched a lead back to five before Wallace made a three, then scored inside to spark an 11-3 run that left the Roadrunners ahead 30-27 with 3:31 to go before the half. LA Tech outscored the Roadrunners 8-3 over the remainder of the stanza, which included the final four at the free-throw line by Christon, to take a 35-33 lead into the locker room.
Prior to the game senior student-athletes Austin Karrer, Kyle Massie, James Ringholt and Kendell Ramlal along with senior managers Will Gray and James Zapata were honored for their accomplishment and contributions to UTSA Roadrunners basketball.
Up next
The Roadrunners close out the regular season with two road games. UTSA first travels to North Texas for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thurs., March 1 before heading to Rice for a 7 p.m. tilt on Saturday.