SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (10-12, 4-6 AAC) produced a stalwart defensive effort and took control on the boards, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a closing-moments Tulane (13-10, 7-3 AAC) rally in Wednesday’s heartbreaking 61-60 loss. Despite another career night by Marcus Millender with 28 points, the visiting Green Wave sliced through a nine-point UTSA lead in the final two minutes, pulling ahead in the final seconds on a pair of Rowan Brumbaugh free throws.
The defensive battle was on full display early, as both teams struggled to separate themselves through the opening nine minutes of the first half. The Roadrunners forced the Green Wave into five turnovers in the opening eight minutes. Meanwhile, leading UTSA’s charge from the very start, Millender put up eight of UTSA’s first 11 points.
Other Roadrunners quickly jumped into the action, as UTSA launched a 14-2 scoring spree with Tai’Reon Joseph and Raekwon Horton driving for back-to-back layups before Millender secured a 10-point margin, converting Tulane’s seventh turnover for a third-straight UTSA layup with 8:43 to go in the half. Though the Green Wave countered after four scoreless minutes, Millender hit consecutive threes to spark UTSA extend the run, as Damari Monsanto followed with a triple of his own, the lead growing to a game-high 15 points on a Baboucarr Njie free throw with 2:46 left in the half.
As the half wound down, the Green Wave stepped up its defensive effort, holding UTSA scoreless for the remainder of the period and closing out on a 7-0 push, Asher Woods scoring the final five points to trim UTSA’s halftime advantage to 33-25.
The teams slugged it out early in the second half, as Jonnivius Smith’s putback dunk and Millender’s free throws grew the lead back out to 12, but Tulane came firing right back as Woods hit a floater in the paint with 15:10 to go that cut Tulane’s deficit to just four. Millender and Horton tag-teamed the Green Wave to grow the lead and Njie drove the baseline through heavy contact to make the lead eight. Millender pushed the Roadrunners back to double-digits with a drive that made it 50-40 with nine minutes left – and the Roadrunners provided scoring from multiple angles to maintain the margin across the following six minutes.
The leader on the boards throughout the night, Smith collected his fifth foul at 2:41 and was a consequential blow to the Roadrunners down the line. Millender’s free throw with 2:16 on the clock proved to be the final UTSA score, making it a 60-51 lead at the time. On the ensuring Tulane possession, Woods hit a three. Fouling out the other interior presence in David Hermes in the process, Brumbaugh sunk a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game with 1:22 to go. Brumbaugh’s defensive board on the next UTSA possession set up a Kaleb Banks three that trimmed it to a 60-59 difference with only 41.1 seconds on the clock. Kam Williams blocked a drive on the other end that left just three seconds on the shot clock and forced the Roadrunners to come up empty on the most crucial possession.
With 2.5 seconds left on the final possession, Brumbaugh drove and drew the necessary foul to set up the deciding free throws and put Tulane in front for the first time in 35 minutes, to clinching the 61-60 comeback.
UTSA finished the night with a 35-32 rebound advantage, which proved to be key in giving the Roadrunners big scoring opportunities, using 14 offensive boards to convert on 20 second-chance points.
Millender’s 28 points marked a career high and the sophomore point guard was 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, also matching a three-point shooting career high – dishing out three assists as well. Horton scored 11 and Smith finished with 10 boards. The freshman, Njie played a season-high 29 minutes and added seven points with three rebounds and two steals.
Woods led the Green Wave, posting a 6-for-8 effort that led to 18 points. Meanwhile, Brumbaugh was a perfect 11-of-11 at the line.
Up Next
UTSA closes up the week at home, welcoming East Carolina to the Convocation Center in a 7 p.m. ESPNU nightcap on Saturday. Next week will see the Roadrunners back out on the road for a full week, in rematches at Wichita State and Tulsa.
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