SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (5-7) fell in non-conference action on Thursday night at the Convocation Center, dropping a 63-53 setback to Army West Point (3-9) in the final game before the Christmas holiday. The Roadrunners went into halftime trailing by five, but a cold-shooting second half allowed the Black Knights to build a lead the Roadrunners couldn’t top despite a late-game rally.
After the Black Knights scored the first five points of the game, the Roadrunners stated to move the offense on a lane drive by Dre Fuller Jr. followed up by a game-tying and-1 play as Trey Edmonds muscled his way in for a score. Edmonds added another score and a Christian Tucker free throw made the UTSA lead three before Army rallied to take a 12-10 lead. UTSA scored on three straight possessions into the under-12 timeout via back-to-back threes from Adante' Holiman and Isaiah Wyatt, assuming a six-point lead on a Carlton Linguard Jr. slash down the lane. However, an 8-0 Black Knights run sapped the Roadrunners’ momentum until Wyatt hit a long ball to give UTSA its final lead at 25-24. Heading into half, Army outscored UTSA 11-5 to take a 35-30 advantage into the break.
Building on the 14 first-half points by guard Josh Scovens, the Black Knights quickly amassed a double-digit lead, cresting it on Ryan Curry’s layup at 15:20 – fully taking charge after the game featured five ties and eight lead changes. Although UTSA turned around the defensive effort down the stretch, holding Army without a field goal for six minutes late, the Roadrunners also delivered just one field goal in 14 tries during a key stretch heading to the final four minutes. Wyatt snapped that slump with a three at 3:36, followed by five consecutive points from Tucker to slice the deficit to only six with 47 seconds remaining. However, Army recovered and held off the rally to a 63-53 win.
UTSA’s lowest scoring total of the year, the Roadrunners shot a season-low 31.1 percent from the floor and only 16.7 from three. Edmonds finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Tucker had 10 points, six rebounds and Wyatt had 10 points with four boards.
For the Black Knights, Scovens finished with 25 points on the night.
Up Next
After the holiday, UTSA returns to action at the Convocation Center in the final non-conference contest of the year, hosting Prairie View A&M for the third time in five years on Dec. 28 at 7 p.m.
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