SAN MARCOS, Texas – The UTSA men’s basketball team (1-2) made a strong second-half push in Wednesday’s Battle of I-35, but couldn’t slip past homestanding Texas State (2-2) down the stretch at Strahan Arena, dropping its second straight game.
Graduate transfer guard Jamir Simpson put away a season-best 22 points with four rebounds, burying four threes and going 6-of-7 from the free throw line, proving to be a big factor for the Roadrunners in both halves.
The Roadrunners took a little too long finding their offensive footing against the Bobcats, pushed to rally from a first-half 17-point deficit over the final eight minutes of the half. Simpson sparked the effort with a physical driving layup and the free throw to follow, earning another trip to the line after pulling down the next defensive board. On the next trip down the court, freshman forward Kaidon Rayfield scored a putback to cut the deficit to 11. However, the Bobcats regained their offense and the teams slugged it out as the half wound down. A three-pointer from Brent Moss and another putback dunk from Rayfield made it back-to-back UTSA scoring possessions with time expiring to trim TXST’s lead to 10, but Kaden Gumbs made an unlikely acrobatic layup at the buzzer to carry a 38-26 Texas State lead to the break.
An entirely different offensive Roadrunners effort came out of the locker room, with Simpson draining a triple on the wing just :11 into the new period. At the second media timeout, UTSA started to gain some traction, with Baboucarr Njie logging five consecutive points for the Roadrunners, then Austin Nunez pulled down a board and pushed the ball ahead to Moss for a corner three that trimmed the deficit to six with 11:32 remaining. The Bobcats pushed back and UTSA clawed back once more on consecutive scores from Simpson and Moss, but as UTSA battled back, Texas State sealed the game at the line with six consecutive makes in the 80-69 final.
UTSA edged out TXST 43-42 in the second-half scoring.
Celebrating his birthday, Rayfield went 6-for-10 with nine rebounds and a block, while Moss scored 12 on 4-for-9 shooting with three steals and Njie went 4-for-8 for 11 points with four rebounds and two blocks.
Up Next
The Roadrunners head directly for their weekend matchup, traveling to the Mountain Time Zone with a Nov. 15 non-conference tilt at Denver, playing the Pioneers for the first time since 2021 and the fourth time overall – the first time in Denver since 2013.
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