SAN ANTONIO – Fed by a conference record-tying delivery from Christian Tucker, it was raining threes for the Roadrunners on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center, as the UTSA men’s basketball team (10-19, 4-12 AAC) drained 14 three-pointers, including 11 in the first half, and ran away with an 89-73 victory over Tulsa (14-14, 5-11 AAC) in late-season American Athletic Conference action.
The Roadrunners shot 42 percent (14-of-33) from long distance and 44 percent (28-of-63) overall while rocking the Golden Hurricane in the league rematch for their second straight win.
Jordan Ivy-Curry led six Roadrunners in double figures with 20 points, dropping in a trio of three-pointers and going 7-for-10 at the free-throw line, while Tucker scored 12 and notched his third points-assists double-double – dishing out a record-tying 14 assists that matches the UTSA mark set by Issy Washington in 1986 as well as the AAC standard posted by Kendric Davis of SMU in 2021
Chandler Cuthrell poured in a career-best 14 points on the strength of a career-high 4-for-6 night from beyond the arc, Dre Fuller Jr. had 12 with the help of three triples, Trey Edmonds added 11 and PJ Carter chipped in 10 to aid UTSA in topping the 80-point mark for the 12th time this season.
The Roadrunners built a double-digit lead a little more than eight minutes into the game and never looked back in winning for the first time in eight tries against Tulsa – claiming victory in the sole series game contested in San Antonio.
The Roadrunners capitalized early when Tulsa’s leading rebounder, Jared Garcia, picked up his second foul just under two minutes into the game, taking advantage both on the glass and from behind the arc. After a slow start offensively for both teams, UTSA built a 12-4 advantage behind two long-distance connections from Fuller.
Though Tulsa closed the gap to 12-8 at the 14:15 mark, the Roadrunners then got hot from downtown as Ivy-Curry, Isaiah Wyatt and Cuthrell each drained a three-pointer to help push the lead to 25-12 near the midway point of the opening half. UTSA continued to blister the nets from long range, as Cuthrell hit two more while Tucker and Carter joined the long-distance party to help stretch it to 42-22 with 4:45 left to play until halftime.
The lead ballooned to as many as 27 points after Fuller knocked down his third trey of the half with just under two minutes on the clock. However, an 8-0 Tulsa spurt sent the teams into half with UTSA’s lead trimmed to 53-34.
The Roadrunners connected on 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from long distance and outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 20-13 in the period to help build their second-largest halftime lead of the season. The Roadrunners delivered 10 threes before hitting a two-point field goal in the first half.
Tulsa pulled to within 15 early in the second half after PJ Haggerty made hit a jumper at the 18:21 mark to make it 54-39, but UTSA pulled away again over the next three minutes as Ivy-Curry drilled another three-pointer that gave the home team a 62-41 advantage.
UTSA increased the lead to 76-50 after an Adante' Holiman layup with 8:56 left to play and the Roadrunners hammered the point home with Carlton Linguard Jr. and Edmonds dunks for the next two scores, as Tulsa got no closer than 16 down the stretch as the Roadrunners cruised to their second straight victory.
Haggerty paced the visiting Golden Hurricane with 29 points and 10 rebounds.
Up Next
The Roadrunners will hit the road to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to meet SMU at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 2. Following a seven-day break, UTSA will close out the regular season back at the Convocation Center on a Senior Day rematch with Temple on Sunday, March 10, at 2 p.m.
- UTSA -