SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (10-13, 4-7 AAC) suffered a second-half East Carolina (13-11, 5-6 AAC) rally that culminated in a closing-seconds lead change on Saturday at the Convocation Center. The Pirates worked past a late two-possession Roadrunners lead, as a jumpball gave East Carolina one additional possession and C.J. Walker put away the 80-79 game-winner with four seconds to go.
The Roadrunners had a very strong first half on both ends of the floor, as Raekwon Horton had nine of UTSA’s first 10 points, leading the Roadrunners to a 10-10 tie, sparking a 13-0 run over a five-minute stretch. After Horton knotted things up, Primo Spears drilled a three for UTSA’s first lead, while Marcus Millender pulled up for a jumper and Jonnivius Smith followed with back-to-back scores off ECU turnovers for the 19-10 advantage with 11:03 remaining in the first half.
As quickly as the Roadrunners had built their lead, the Pirates countered, firing off a 10-2 rally to 21-20 across a minute-and-a-half stretch. Walker went on to tie the game at 23-all with 5:56 left in the half, but the Roadrunners came back swinging as a trio of Damari Monsanto triples drove UTSA to build the advantage back out to seven. UTSA went into the half leading 40-33 after Horton set Baboucarr Njie with the perfect alley-oop dunk in the final minute.
Coming out of the break, UTSA quickly rebuilt the lead to nine after Smith, Millender and Spears fired off the first three scores of the half. But again, the Pirates made it clear they weren’t laying down, slicing the deficit to 46-45 on an RJ Felton three-pointer inside the first five minutes of the second half – with a second Felton trey tying the game at 48 less than a minute later. The Pirates grabbed a brief lead on Felton’s free throw at 13:57, but Millender responded with a floater to edge back in front. The game remained within a single possession for two minutes, but Jordan Riley led East Carolina to a brief six-point advantage. Millender again took charge, driving the lane and collecting the foul, followed quickly by a Horton steal that set Millender for a clutch three-pointer with eight minutes left, tying the game at 63-all. Njie used a second-chance layup to reclaim the lead on the next opportunity.
Coming down the stretch, it looked like everything was coming up Roadrunners. Horton tipped in a Monsanto miss from deep to take the 76-75 lead with 1:27 on the clock and a jumpball turned possession UTSA’s direction for Millender to spot up for a three and the four-point lead on the ensuing possession. However, Riley muscled his way into the paint for the glass layup and a foul to bring the margin to 79-78 with 17 seconds left. With the ball inbounded to Spears, three Pirates swarmed him and the officials signaled a second jumpball in the closing minute. Walker’s turnaround jumper with :04 on the clock edged ECU in front 80-79 and sealed the comeback.
The Roadrunners spread the scoring around with four double-digit scorers, but Millender’s 17-point second-half explosion led him to a team-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Horton finished with 15, grabbing five rebounds with four assists. Spears also tossed out four assists and ended the night with 13. Smith paced the Roadrunners with six rebounds, posting 10 points as well.
In Saturday’s game, there were eight lead changes and 13 ties.
Up Next
UTSA heads back out for a pair of midwestern road games, both rematches, first traveling to Wichita State on Wednesday, Feb. 12, then rolling into Tulsa for a Saturday, Feb. 15 matchup with the Golden Hurricane.
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