SAN ANTONIO – UTSA fell to Rice in overtime on Monday evening, 88-81, despite a career night from Japhet Medor who scored the first 30-point game by any Roadrunner since Keaton Wallace did so in the 2020-21 season.
UTSA (7-12, 1-7 C-USA) has dropped four in a row following its loss on Monday. The Roadrunners were again without senior big man Jacob Germany who was held out for the second-straight game with a head injury. Rice (13-5, 4-3 C-USA) got a pair of big-time performances to power an 18-point comeback. Two-time C-USA Player of the Week Quincy Olivari had 30 points and eight rebounds while Max Fiedler notched the second triple-double in Rice history, going for 24 points, 13 boards and 11 assists.
Medor led UTSA in scoring on the afternoon, as the senior transfer's 30 points set a new benchmark for the most points scored by a Roadrunner this season. Medor also had a team-high five assists and went 6-8 from the charity stripe. DJ Richards chipped in 14 points, knocking down four triples and pulling down a team-high eight rebounds for the second consecutive game. John Buggs III added 13 points of his own, knocking down a trio of triples to go with two boards and an assist. Aleu Aleu played big minutes in his second start of the season, going for nine points with eight rebounds. Josh Farmer led all UTSA bench production as the sophomore had seven points and seven rebounds with a block.
The Rundown
After winning the opening tip, Rice got an and-one off the bat to take an early 3-0 lead. The Roadrunners overtook the lead, 4-3, at the 18:06 mark thanks to an Aleu layup and Medor jumper. The two teams got out to a rampant start, as the first media timeout saw UTSA hold a 15-14 lead. Out of the media timeout, UTSA rattled off a 12-0 run to take a 13-point lead which was punctuated with a Richards jump shot. UTSA extended the lead to its largest of the game, 18, at the 4:07 mark and was firmly in control in the first half of play. UTSA went into half leading by 13, 45-32, and was shooting 47.2% from beyond the arc and 44.4% from deep. The 45 first-half points were the second-most UTSA has put forth in any game this season. At the break, Medor had 19, more than his entire production against Charlotte, while Richards had 11 and Buggs had nine.
The majority of the second half played out much like the first as UTSA answered every Rice basket with its own, keeping the Owls at arm's length, leading by 16, 65-49, with 8:25 left on the clock. However, that's when Rice began to chip away at the Roadrunner lead. Slowly but surely the Owls chunked away at UTSA's cushion, cutting the lead to eight with 3:20 remaining. The Owls were no strangers to close games, having played three overtime games this season and continued to execute down the stretch. A pair of Travis Evee free throws was countered with a Medor layup which was followed with a Fiedler layup and an Evee three to make it a three-point contest. Rice's Mekhi Mason got a fastbreak layup to go and all of a sudden UTSA's lead was down to one with 31 seconds remaining. Following Mason's layup, the Owls applied a press, forced a turnover and got another Evee basket to take their first lead since 3-2. UTSA called timeout with a final play in mind and let Medor iso. He drove to the cup with four seconds left and was fouled on the shot with 1.1 on the clock. Medor's first free throw rimmed out but he was able to convert the second. Rice turned over the baseball inbound pass and it was off to overtime as the teams were tied at 72-all.
Rice began overtime much like they began the game. It won the tip and converted on its very first offensive possession with a jumper. UTSA came back with a Farmer three-pointer to retake the lead, 75-74. From there though, Rice outscored UTSA 14-6 thanks to eight clutch free throws and solid defense to claim its second overtime victory of the season.
Up Next
Following its Martin Luther King Jr. Day game against Rice, UTSA will be back in action this Thursday, January 19 when it welcomes No. 24 Florida Atlantic to the Convocation Center. Thursday night's game is set to tip off at 7 p.m., will be streamed on ESPN+ and will be broadcast on Ticket 760 AM.
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