Roadrunners fall to Calgary in Costa Rica Foreign Tour openerRoadrunners fall to Calgary in Costa Rica Foreign Tour opener
Men's Basketball

Roadrunners fall to Calgary in Costa Rica Foreign Tour opener

Tweet #BirdsUp

SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA – The UTSA men's basketball team fell by a 70-69 final to the University of Calgary in the Roadrunners' first of three games in Costa Rica.
 
UTSA tied the game at 65 with two minutes to play, then took a two-point lead at 69-67 with 15 seconds to play on a Giovanni De Nicolao layup; however, Calgary connected on a 3-pointer with seven seconds showing on the clock. UTSA was unable to get a final shot off as the defending Canadian National Champions survived by 70-69 score.
 
Sophomore Keaton Wallace led the Roadrunners with 17 points as he knocked down six shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Joining Wallace in double-figure was true freshman Adokiye Iyaye with 12 points as he shot 5 of 10 from the field, including two from deep. Fellow frosh Tamir Bynum scored nine, while Nick Allen added eight and newcomer Atem Bior totaled eight points to go along with his team-high 12 rebounds.
 
UTSA shot 39.0 percent for the game, knocking down 27 of 70 shots. The Roadrunners outscored the Dinos 19-9 on the fast break, 36-30 in the paint and 18-15 off the bench.
 
Calgary was led by David Kapinga's game-high 17 points and Mambi Diawara's 16-point, 14-rebound double-double.
 
UTSA and Calgary will return to the court at BN Arena to play a second game on Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. CT.
 
-UTSA-

Today was about more than just a basketball game. Junior guard Giovanni De Nicolao reflects on the day's events ...

This morning we woke up around eight and had an amazing breakfast. The view from the hotel was just stunning, the weather was really humid, but some wind helped to keep us fresh. The hotel is awesome, the TVs in the rooms are in Spanish, so I get to practice a little of my Spanish. The city from the hotel looks amazing. The fruits are so fresh and delicious.
 
It was a tough game today. A different type of basketball, more physicality, and it was our first game of the year, but I believe we learned a lot. More specific, we didn't have a good start, we slowly caught up and at the end we had some good plays; unfortunately, they hit a 3-point shot for the win. All the credit to Calgary for that, but overall, we didn't have a good game. We had too many turnovers and too many missed open shots.
 
My take away from this game is that we need to get in better shape before the season starts. The gym was really hot and because of the altitude we got tired easily. I am sure we learned the lesson and tomorrow we are going to show what we really are.
 
Our visit to the Holy Spirit Orphanage was an amazing experience. It was incredible to see how these people help kids and families that are in difficult situations. It was refreshing to play with those kids and to bring some happiness to their day.  It also showed us how lucky we are and no to take anything for granted.
 
To see a different part of the world and getting to know different situations of life is amazing and I believe this experience helped us understanding that if everybody does a little bit to help each other we can make this world a better place to everyone.
 
I was surprised to see how bad the condition of life is in the area where these people live. I am glad that this orphanage is trying to help all of the children of this area make it out of there by giving them education and meals.
 
- Gio