HOUSTON, Texas – The UTSA men’s basketball team (8-8, 2-2 AAC) proved resilient in battling through a nailbiter, rolling to their second consecutive American Athletic Conference victory, holding off a second-half rally from homestanding Rice (11-7, 2-3) on the triple-team efforts of Primo Spears, Marcus Millender and Raekwon Horton’s combined 71 points. The Roadrunners pulled ahead big early but fought off the Owls down the stretch for their first road conference win of the season via a 90-84 victory on Tuesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse.
The beginnings of Tuesday night’s conference were certainly inauspicious, as Rice, one of the top defensive teams in the conference, jumped out to a 12-4 lead on the heels of an 8-0 run over the first three minutes – with the Owls quickly recording eight points in the paint. UTSA’s offense stalled until Horton hit the first of his three triples with 15:21 on the first half clock. Millender and Spears chipped at the early Rice lead over the next four minutes, before Horton created the first lead at 17-all. Then Damari Monsanto entered the picture and drained back-to-back threes that granted UTSA the 23-20 advantage just before the midpoint of the half.
After the initial Owls surge to start the game, the Roadrunners shut down Rice’s game in the lane, limiting them to only four more paint points in the half. In the meantime, UTSA held Rice without a field goal for six minutes, launching into a 14-6 run to reach a 12-point lead with 5:42 to go. Horton’s free throws at 1:14 gave UTSA a 17-point advantage, but the Owls worked out a 7-0 run to close the half, all from Alem Huseinovic.
Leading 51-41 at the break, it was UTSA’s defense that leaned most into its strength in the first half, as the Roadrunners turned over the Owls 12 times, using eight steals to score 19 points off turnovers.
The Roadrunners shot 9-for-17 from behind the arc in the opening period, while the Owls only tallied 11 made field goals in the period.
The Roadrunners were 8-for-8 at the line at the break, but free throws were helping keep Rice in the game with a 14-for-20 first half at the line.
It was a slugfest initially coming back from halftime, but the Owls forced UTSA into a four-minute scoring drought, climbing back into the game on big moves from Trae Broadnax to draw the UTSA lead to just three points at 58-55. A pair of Horton free throws broke up the scoring slump with 12:52 on the clock, but a fast break three-pointer from Denver Anglin made it a one-point game, before Jacob Dar’s free throws provided Rice its first lead of the second half with 10:00 to go.
Responding to the pressure with ease, the Roadrunners countered with a big dunk from Jonnivius Smith and Millender fired off the next seven points to rebuild some cushion for UTSA.
As the Owls cut the lead to two possessions into the closing moments, a key defensive possession with 2:01 remaining proved to be pivotal, with two Rice misses and a Smith defensive rebound that pushed the ball up the court for Millender to drain a three-pointer in the right corner. On the next possession, Spears drove the court for one final UTSA layup at the one-minute mark. Forced to foul the Roadrunners, the Owls didn’t stand a chance against one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country, as Spears, Horton and Millender combined to connect on eight consecutive free throws that secured the 90-84 conference road victory.
Cresting the 20-point barrier for the second consecutive game and third of the year, Millender put on a clinic in his hometown. The Clear Brook High grad registered a season-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three – pocketing four steals and three assists. Leading all scorers, Spears scored eight times on top of eight free throws for a total of 26, racking up five assists. Marking a new career scoring high, Horton finished with 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting – hitting 3-of-5 from three for the second consecutive game. Just shy of yet another double-double, he grabbed a team-high eight rebounds along with five assists.
The trio was the first time for UTSA with three 20-point scorers since Jhivvan Jackson (20), Byron Frohnen (21), Keaton Wallace (21) combined for 61 against then-Houston Baptist in 2018.
Hitting three from long range with five rebounds, Monsanto finished with nine points.
The Roadrunners finished with 26 points off turnovers after grabbing 11 steals off 16 Rice turnovers – 18 scored on fast breaks. UTSA shot 41.9 percent from long range (13-for-31) and were 17-of-18 at the free throw line.
The Roadrunners maintained the lead for 30:13 with four ties and four lead changes on the night.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Roadrunners will next play at home in the Convocation Center on Saturday with North Texas coming to San Antonio for a 3 p.m. tipoff.
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