- Erik Czumbel lays in game-winning bucket with one second left.
- Jhivvan Jackson goes for 25, Keaton Wallace scores 24.
- UTSA wins its fourth straight over Rice.
- Roadrunners host UAB on Thursday at 7 p.m.
HOUSTON – Erik Czumbel's game-winning basket with one second left on the clock gave UTSA men's basketball a 90-88 win at Rice, on Saturday night at the Tudor Fieldhouse.
The Roadrunners were locked at 88 with the Owls with 6.7 seconds left in regulation and Rice inbounding the ball from under the basket with one second left on the shot clock. Rice inbounded the ball but UTSA senior Byron Frohnen secure a steal, kicking it out to midcourt to Czumbel, a freshman point guard from Verona, Italy.
Czumbel hauled in the pass from Frohnen and with a Rice's Josh Parrish on his right hip, drove to the basket and kissed the ball off the glass with a left hand to give UTSA a lead with one second remaining. Rice's three-quarters court heave sailed high and the Roadrunners escaped with a two-point win.
HOLY MOLY, ERIK CZUMBEL!
— UTSA Basketball (@UTSAMBB) January 26, 2020
Roadrunners win. #BirdsUp 🤙 | #RunWithUs pic.twitter.com/HziJtJiVi6
Czumbel finished with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including three 3-pointers, adding a rebound and an assist.
Junior guards Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace combined to score 49 points, with Jackson going for 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists on a 10-of-19 shooting outing.
Jackson, a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, ranks as the No. 2 scorer in the nation, and sports 26.3 points per game in 2019-20, just shy of Marquette senior Markus Howard.
Wallace, who joins Jackson as the NCAA's highest scoring duo, had 24 points, four rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes, connecting on three 3-pointers.
Making his 121st consecutive start, Byron Frohnen grabbed eight rebounds and now sits just two rebounds shy of equaling the program record for boards, held by Jeromie Hill (2010-15). Frohnen added eight points and four assists.
UTSA (10-11, 4-4 Conference USA) held a 39-38 halftime lead and outscored Rice (9-13, 1-8 C-USA) 51-50 in a rugged second half. The Roadrunners shot 50 percent in the game (33 of 66) and was 12 of 27 from 3-point range. Rice bombed in 18 3-pointers on 35 efforts, the third-most 3-pointers made in C-USA single-game history.
UTSA won the battle of the boards, 38-36, owning a 30-18 margin in points in the paint. Rice got 46 points off the bench and was led by a 21-point game from Ako Adams.
UTSA will return to action on Thursday, hosting UAB at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast live on Stadium and will also be live on the Roadrunners Sports Network on Ticket 760-AM and goUTSA.com, with the Voice of the Roadrunners, Andy Everett (play-by-play) and Tim Carter (analyst), calling the action.
It took no time for the Roadrunners to settle in, getting an early bucket from Frohnen, triples from Jackson and Wallace, and a take to the rim from Jackson to force a Rice timeout. The Owls responded out of the timeout to take a 19-15 lead after an 11-0 run.
The teams traded buckets until the final media timeout of the first half, with the game even at 32, with the game going into halftime with UTSA holding a 39-38 lead. Rice shot 47 percent in the first half, with UTSA trailing in the battle of the boards, 17-16.
Rice opened the second half on an 11-2 run, behind three 3-pointers, to take a 49-41 lead – its largest of the game – and force a UTSA timeout. The second-half run continued to 21-12 as the Owls built a 10-point lead with just over 13 minutes left.
UTSA's 8-0 run cut the lead to 64-61 but the Owls used a pair of 3-point plays to regain a nine-point lead. UTSA answered with a pair of triples from Jackson on consecutive trips to cut the lead to 72-70 and force a Rice timeout.
UTSA took its first lead since the opening minutes of the second stanza after Czumbel drilled a corner triple to go up 75-74 with seven minutes left. The run continued to 7-0 for a 77-74 lead after an Atem Bior basket.
Rice took the lead at 78-77 before Bior grabbed a free-throw rebound and was fouled, sinking both for a 79-77 lead. After Rice evened it at 79, Czumbel drilled his third triple of the game for a 82-79 lead at the final media timeout, with 3:40 left.
Frohnen's righty layup gave UTSA an 84-79 lead as the clock ticked under three. After a Rice three, Wallace found an offensive rebound and put it back in for a four-point lead but Rice drilled a triple from Trey Murphy III to cut it to one with 1:35 left.
Wallace's take to the rim gave UTSA an 88-85 lead with 1:15 left but Rice drilled a deep 3-pointer from Ako Adams to even it at 88.
UTSA's defense stiffened in the final possession, forcing a turnover with six seconds left, with Frohnen securing the ball and firing it to midcourt to a streaking Czumbel. Czumbel took the ball hard to the rim to lay-in the game-winning basket with 1.0 seconds left and Rice's three-quarters court heave sailed high as the Roadrunners escaped with the win.
- UTSA -