SAN ANTONIO – UTSA led by double-figures for the majority of the contest, including by as many as 17 in the early stages of the second half, as the Roadrunners snapped WKU's five-game road winning streak with a 74-63 upset of the Hilltoppers Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners never trailed in rolling to their third-straight win over an opponent among the top five of the Conference USA standings. UTSA improved to 13-11 overall, including a 6-5 league mark. WKU fell to 16-7 overall and 8-2 against league foes.
Freshman Jhivvan Jackson led the Roadrunners offense for the 16th times this season with his game-high 22 points on nine field goals, including four from 3-point range. Fellow frosh Keaton Wallace joined Jackson in double-figures with 11 points. Wallace also grabbed a career-best eight rebounds.
UTSA outshot WKU 40 percent to 36 percent with the largest disparity coming from behind the arc as the Roadrunners hit eight triples and WKU only two on 20 attempts. The Roadrunners also dominated WKU on the glass, finishing with a 47-38 margin, which included a plus-seven difference on the defensive end.
WKU was paced offensively by Taveion Hollingsworth's 21 points and Justin Johnson's 13-point, 13-rebound double-double.
UTSA surged ahead 19-5 before WKU made its first field goal nearly eight minutes into the game after starting 0 of 9 from the field. Four minutes later UTSA doubled up the Hilltoppers at 38-14 as Jack made his third 3-pointer of the half. WKU got no closer than 10 throughout the remainder of the half, but the score was immediately answered by a Toby Van Ry free throw and later a Jackson layup for the 37-25 intermission score.
The Roadrunners connected on each of their first two shots – a Jackson three and Byron Frohnen layup -- out of the half to take a game-high 17-point lead at 42-27. Minutes later the Hilltoppers pulled within 10, but Deon Lyle scored six of the game's next 10 points via threes from the left corner to keep the Roadrunners firmly in front.
WKU later pieced together an 8-1 run with six points by Johnson and two by Darius Thompson to again cut the Roadrunners'' lead to 10 at 65-55 with 4:07 to play. However, two Giovanni De Nicolao free throws and a Nick Allen jumper over the ensuing two minutes reasserted the Roadrunners control and the Hilltoppers never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
UTSA shot 42 percent in the opening half, while limiting WKU to just 23 percent, including an 0 for 9 effort from beyond the arc. The Roadrunners also dominated the larger Hilltoppers on the glass, corralling 31 rebounds to WKU's 17.
Up next
UTSA returns to the road for three consecutive contests, starting on Feb. 10 at UTEP. The Roadrunners then travel to Old Dominion on Feb. 15 and Charlotte on Feb. 17.
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