HOUSTON – Jhivvan Jackson had 28 points and Keaton Wallace added 21 but Oregon State got strong outings from Kylor Kelley and Ethan Thompson to post an 88-78 win over UTSA men's basketball, on Wednesday night in Houston's Toyota Center.
UTSA (4-7) and Oregon State (9-1) met in a neutral-site contest that marked the first of a tripleheader on Wednesday at the Toyota Center, as part of Battleground 2K19, featuring Baylor, South Florida, Utah State and UT Martin.
The Roadrunners were able to shake off a sluggish start to cut the first-half Oregon State lead to four late in the first half but the Beavers came out of the break hot, scoring the next nine points for a 16-point lead in the opening minutes of the stanza. The Roadrunners cut the lead to six with just under seven minutes left in the final period but Oregon State was able to fight off the charge from UTSA to secure the win.
Jackson, the nation's leading scorer, had 28 points, adding five rebounds and five assists, swiping three. A native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Jackson averages 25.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in 2019-20.
Oregon State was led by Kelley, who had 23 points, including 14 first-half points. Ethan Thompson added 23 points and three boards.
Tres Tinkle, the preseason pick to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, finished with 11 points.
UTSA will return to action on Saturday, hosting Illinois State at 3 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be on CUSA TV and also will be available on the Ticket 760 AM and goUTSA.com, with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett calling the action.
Oregon State opened with the first three points of the game until Wallace drilled a deep jumper and then cut the Beavers lead to 6-5 with a deep 3-pointer. The Beavers then scored 15 of the next 19 points to take a 20-10 lead, with UTSA getting a midrange jumper from Jackson and a hook shot in the paint from Atem Bior. Jackson cut the lead to single figures with a floater to beat the shot clock, cutting it to 20-12.
The Beavers stretched the lead to 23-12 before Wallace drilled a 3-pointer from deep at the top of the key. Wallace immediately answered with a basket at the rim to cut the lead to 25-17 and then sank a pair from the charity stripe to cut the lead to 25-12. Erik Czumbel's first 3-pointer of the game cut the lead to 27-22, with Kelley – the nation's leading shot blocker – getting a basket at the rim for a 31-22 lead at the third media timeout.
The lead went to 12 before Germany completed a slam on a nice find from Wallace but the Beavers answered to take the lead to 38-24 with 3:43 left in the first. The Roadrunners got hot out of the timeout, getting the first trey of the game from Jackson, a Knox Hellums three from the corner and a Wallace bucket at the rim for an 8-0 run that forced an Oregon State timeout and cut the lead to 38-34.
Tres Tinkle answered out of the break with his first 3-pointer of the game and a 41-34 lead at halftime. Wallace led the Roadrunners with 14 points in the first half, with Jackson adding eight. Tinkle had five points, while Kelley had 15 points.
The Beavers scored the first nine points out of the halftime break, taking a 50-34 lead. Luka Barisic got the Roadrunners on the board with a corner three out of a UTSA timeout. Jackson helped UTSA cut the lead with a triple to 50-40 and Hellums drilled his second trey to make it 52-43. The lead ballooned to 60-44 until Hellums drilled a corner three.
Our of the timeout, UTSA got an open mid-range jumper from Jackson to take the OSU lead to 60-49. Wallace and Jackson each drilled 3-pointers, to sandwich a pair from Oregon State, and cut the lead to 64-55. Jackson spurted out on a quick 5-0 run, drilling a step-back three and executing a run out to cut the lead to six.
After a timeout from the Roadrunners with just over four minutes left, UTSA found Czumbel in the corner for the triple, cutting the lead to 76-68, but Oregon State immediately got an and-one for an 11-point lead.
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