SAN ANTONIO – UTSA was unable to recover from a score-flipping 17-2 Sam Houston State run in the middle stages of the second half and the Bearkats made enough shots at the free-throw line down the stretch to secure a 76-69 victory in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
UTSA ends its season with a 20-15 overall record, which is the program's best record since the 2010-11 campaign. The loss also brings to a close the collegiate careers of Austin Karrer, Kyle Massie, Kendell Ramlal and James Ringholt.
The Roadrunners were led offensively by Keaton Wallace's 18 points and Giovanni De Nicolao's 17, while Nick Allen added 11. Karrer was the Roadrunners' top rebounder with six and Byron Frohnen led with four assists to go along with his eight points and four rebounds. The Roadrunners closed the game shooting 44 percent (26 of 59), outscored SHSU 32-18 in the paint and 22-17 off the bench.
Sam Houston State (21-14) was paced by John Dewy III's 18 points. Cameron Delaney had 13 and Chris Galbreath Jr. and Josh Delaney 11 each. Galbreath Jr. grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to complete his double-double. The Bearkats shot 38 percent (21 of 56) for the night and outrebounded UTSA 41-32.
A De Nicolao three just 1:30 into the second half put the Roadrunners up 11 at 43-32, but SHSU rallied with a 6-0 run over the ensuing two minutes, cutting the UTSA lead to five. Undaunted, UTSA came out of the under-16 media timeout and quickly pushed the lead back to nine as Frohnen scored in the paint and Karrer added two free throws.
Sam Houston State scored 12 of the game's next 16 points – with eight coming at the free-throw line – to cut the Roadrunners' lead to a single point at 51-50 with 12:12 showing on the clock. Lyle immediately answered with his UTSA single-season record-tying 96th 3-pointer to put the 'Runners back up four. Wallace followed on the next UTSA possession with one at the free-throw line, but again SHSU responded with two at the line from Galbreath Jr. and a triple from Delaney to keep it a one-possession game at 57-55 at the 9:59 mark.
Lyle would score inside to momentarily slow the Bearkats' moment. However, Sam Houston State scored the game's next 12 points, which included 3-pointers by Delaney and Dewey III, as part of overall larger 17-2 overall scoring streak that left the Bearkats ahead 67-59 and forced a UTSA timeout with 4:50 to play.
Wallace scored two more at the line and Allen connected on a jumper to pull the Roadrunners to 69-63, but SHSU went 7 of 12 at the charity stripe down the stretch to earn its 21st win of the season.
UTSA made five threes in the first nine minutes of the contest en route to a 22-16 lead on the Bearkats. However, the Roadrunners would go scoreless for the next five minutes as SHSU trimmed its deficit to 22-21. Allen ended the Roadrunners' shooting woes with a triple from the top of the key at the 6:22 mark and sparked a 13-2 UTSA run over the next five minutes. Byron Frohnen and Mitar Stanojevic each added buckets inside over the final 1:30 to send the Roadrunners into the locker room up 37-28.
UTSA shot 48 percent in the opening half and the Bearkats 33 percent. The Roadrunners held a six-point edge in point in the paint and a plus-one margin on the glass through the opening 20 minutes.
Up next
UTSA now enters the off season. The 2018-19 campaign opens in early November.
Notes:
• Deon Lyle has tied the UTSA single season 3-point field goals made record with 96. He equaled Marlon Anderson's 96 during both the 1994-95 and 1995-96 season.
• UTSA recorded 20 wins for seventh time in 37-year history of the program. The 20 wins are the most since the 2010-11 season.