TULSA, Okla. – Closing off a full week on the road, the UTSA men’s basketball team (10-15, 4-9 AAC) nearly completed a full comeback from a 17-point halftime deficit at Tulsa (11-15, 5-8 AAC) on Saturday evening at the Reynolds Center. The Roadrunners outscored the Golden Hurricane by 13 points in the second half and brought the game as close as three twice in the final 30 seconds before the final buzzer secured Tulsa’s 80-76 win. Furious
The Golden Hurricane came out with the hot hand in spite of UTSA’s aggressive defense, hitting nine of the first 10 shots, including a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range that built up a double-digit Tulsa advantage in the first eight minutes. Although the Roadrunners’ zone slowed the Golden Hurricane’s efforts, the UTSA offense got untracked, and the Roadrunners were held without a field goal across the final 10:17 of the half. The Roadrunners hung around with a 10-of-12 first-half free throw shooting performance to balance 5-of-25 shooting. Heading into the break, Tulsa’s lead peaked at 19 points, before David Hermes’ free throws trimmed the deficit to 40-23 at halftime.
There was a clear and monumental shift for the Roadrunners right out of the locker room, as Marcus Millender drained a three from the left wing just 10 seconds into the new period and the intensity from UTSA’s full court pressure doubled. The Roadrunners chipped away, forcing Tulsa into four turnovers in the first three minutes of the half and the deficit fell to single digits on a Primo Spears free throw with 17:04 on the clock.
With Raekwon Horton’s second-chance layup at 12:43 finally breaking UTSA into a steady single-digit margin, the effectiveness of the added pressure was evident, as Spears followed with a triple to slice the game to five points. With Horton scoring five consecutive points for the Roadrunners, the margin dwindled to 58-54 with 8:41 remaining.
Relentless for 12 minutes, the Roadrunner rally lost some of its edge and the Golden Hurricane collected their first field goal in nearly six minutes, as Tyshawn Archie’s corner three set Tulsa back in motion. A pair of Dwon Odom free throws at 4:41 grew Tulsa’s advantage back to 11. But again, it was Millender leading the way, flashing a spin-move for a fouled paint jumper to revive UTSA’s offensive energy. Millender hit back-to-back threes to make the deficit five points with 1:33 to go. Then consecutive triples from Spears sliced the margin to 77-74 with 16 seconds on the clock.
Keaston Willis and Spears traded free throws into the waning seconds. The UTSA press almost delivered one final time, as Willis was trapped immediately in the corner and Baboucarr Njie got a hand on the pass attempt, sending it out of bounds with 4.3 seconds left. Willis drew the foul and made the front end bucket that finally halted the Roadrunner rally en route to the 80-76 final.
Horton demanded a lot of attention in the second half, pacing all scorers with 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting, hitting a career-high 10-of-12 at the free throw line. Horton also nabbed five rebounds and two steals.
Scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half, Millender was the spark for the Roadrunners, finishing with four threes, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Paced by 9-of-10 shooting at the free throw line, Spears came away with 18 points, adding a trio of crucial threes and three assists.
On the glass, Jonnivius Smith and Njie paced the effort with six apiece, with the Roadrunners outrebounding Tulsa 35-33.
UTSA forced Tulsa into 15 turnovers and collected 10 steals on the night, scoring 16 points off turnovers – 14 in the second half.
Up Next
UTSA returns to the Convocation Center to host South Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 19, for Rowdy Rodeo, then traveling to the Tarheel State for the rematch with East Carolina on Sunday in Greenville.
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