BOCA RATON, Fla. – The UTSA men’s basketball team (9-11, 3-5 AAC) started strong but lost steam late in the first half at homestanding Florida Atlantic (11-10, 4-4 AAC), Wednesday night at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena. Though the Roadrunners battled to near-equal offensive footing in the second half, the Owls’ perimeter game came alive and allowed FAU to secure the 97-74 win over the visiting Roadrunners.
Led by South Florida local Damari Monsanto, the Roadrunners used their long-range game to stay with the Owls early, as the Pembroke Pines native dropped three triples in the first eight minutes to first bring the minor deficit to 12-11 and later 18-16. Just two minutes later, Marcus Millender put away a pair of free throws to knot the score at 18-all with 10:30 to play. Despite FAU’s quick response, Millender hit another pair to make it 21-20 in FAU’s favor, but an ensuing 6-0 run gave Florida Atlantic a little breathing room. That was quickly erased as Jonnivius Smith and Raekwon Horton chipped into the FAU lead and Monsanto spotted up for his fourth trey to make it 29-28 with 6:11 on the first half clock.
However, coming down the final stretch of the half, the Owls took off, making six of their final eight field goals, while holding UTSA without a score for the final 3:06, amounting to an 18-4 run across the final 5:44 and a 47-32 halftime advantage.
Work on the boards was giving the Owls a big boost, as Florida Atlantic shot under 40 percent for much of the opening period, but outrebounded UTSA 28-9 and picked up nine second chance points, taking 13 additional looks in the half. Turnovers were the other factor in FAU’s favor, as the Owls scored nine off seven first-half steals.
Opening up the second half, the teams traded scores, but KyKy Tandy started to pick up steam from the perimeter, hitting three consecutive threes as the Owls incrementally grew their lead while holding UTSA without a score – hitting 29 points with 11:20 on the clock.
Primo Spears halted the scoring slump with a free throw and Millender and Monsanto hit back-to-back threes, reigniting Monsanto in the process. The Roadrunners raced to a 10-0 run while holding the Owls off the board for 2:45 and cut the deficit to 18 in the process. Moments later, Monsanto’s seventh and final three only got the Roadrunners to an 87-70 margin with 3:20 to go, but the Owls kept things even enough to hold up the 94-74 win.
With an improved second-half presence on the boards, paced overall by eight rebounds from Smith alongside Horton, the final rebound margin ended at 45-28 – the Roadrunners claiming the 19-15 rebound advantage in the second.
Monsanto led all UTSA scorers with 21 points, hitting a season-high 7-of-9 from the perimeter. Millender knocked down three from long range and ended with 19 points, while Spears had 16 with five assists on the night.
Tandy finished shooting 8-of-10 from the perimeter to lead all scorers with 26 points.
Up Next
The Roadrunners wrap up a double-road week on Saturday with a rematch trip to North Texas in Denton. UTSA hosts back-to-back home games next week with Tulane and East Carolina coming to the Convocation Center, Feb. 5 and Feb. 8.
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