SAN ANTONIO – Primo Spears scored a game-high 28 points, including 10 in the final 2:11 of the game, and UTSA shot a season-best 47.7 percent from the field in an 80-76 win over North Dakota on Friday at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners (4-5), who led by as many as 13 points with 10:33 remaining in the game, withstood a late rally by the Fighting Hawks (4-7) that brought them as close as four points with 19 seconds left on the clock. Spears made a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
It was the seventh 20-point game of the season for Spears, who made 11-of-17 shots from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Sixteen of his 28 points came in the second half. Damari Monsanto, the American Athletic Conference leader in three-pointers per game, made four treys for 12 points and dished out a career-high four assists. Marcus Millender added 10 points and four assists. Jonnivius Smith led the Roadrunners with 11 rebounds to complement eight points.
UTSA shot better than 47 percent from the field for the third time this season, making 31-of-65 shots (47.7 percent). The Roadrunners, who entered the game ranked eighth in the nation in fastbreak points per game at 18.3, converted on 21 fastbreak points in Friday’s contest. UTSA scored 18 points off of 14 North Dakota turnovers and forced 10 steals.
UTSA took a 43-38 advantage into the locker room at halftime after shooting 51.4 percent (18-of-35) in the opening frame. The Roadrunners forced the Fighting Hawks into nine first-half turnovers, converting them into 16 points.
UTSA scored the first five points of the game and extended its early advantage to 10-3 at the 17:40 mark of the first half when Raekwon Horton converted a Millender steal into two points. North Dakota then put together a 10-0 run over the next 2:24 to take a 13-10 lead before a Monsanto three-pointer knotted the score. Trailing 17-13, the Roadrunners ran off nine in a row, including four from Millender, to go up 21-17 with 11:36 remaining in the first half. From there, North Dakota scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a 29-23 advantage with 7:56 left until intermission. With UTSA down 31-23, a deep three-pointer by Spears from the right wing ignited a 7-0 run by the Roadrunners that brought them within one, 31-30. UTSA began to separate itself near the close of the first half, ignited by a one-handed slam dunk by Smith at the 2:55 mark.
Out of the locker room, the Roadrunners pushed their advantage to eight points, 50-42, when Tai’Reon Joseph flew in for one of his three steals and drove the length of the court for the layup with 15:28 left to go in the game. With UTSA leading 50-44, the Roadrunners went on a 7-0 run over a 56-second span to widen their margin to 13, 57-44, with 12:04 remaining.
Friday’s game marked the first-ever meeting between UTSA and North Dakota.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Roadrunners will travel to Grand Forks, N.D., to face North Dakota for the second time in three days on Sunday when the two teams square off at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on the Summit League Network. UTSA returns to the Convocation Center on December 19, playing host to Southwestern Adventist at 12 p.m.
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