JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite some early struggles, the UTSA men’s basketball team (4-3) stayed in the fight with a long-range shooting Georgia Southern (3-5) squad on Tuesday night at John Hurst Adams Gymnasium. UTSA’s intensity never bowed, even playing from behind for over 27 minutes, then the switch flipped and the Roadrunners took over the game en route to a 77-64 comeback victory to close out their week at the Jacksonville Classic.
The Eagles splashed three from beyond the arc in the first three minutes, taking up a 9-4 advantage early, but Macaleab Rich set off a big night with his first bucket, a big lane pull-up arcing the ball over the defender. Jamir Simpson followed with a pair at the stripe to make it a one-point game.
However, with the game at 13-11 in the Eagles’ favor and a little over 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Georgia Southern managed to stall the UTSA offense, launching an 11-0 run over the next two minutes. Instead of chaos, the Roadrunners calmed things down immediately. A Daniel Akitoby drive-and-kick to Dorian Hayes for a three set the wheels in motion, and UTSA scored 13 unanswered to tie the game at 24-all on Simpson’s driving layup and one with 3:45 remaining.
Coming down the stretch in the first, Georgia Southern edged back in front on layups and free throws, collecting the final four points of the half. A Brent Moss three at the buzzer was waved off, sending UTSA into the locker room trailing 33-29.
Coming out of the break, it was the Eagles who proved to be the first aggressor, firing off a 7-0 run that forced an Austin Claunch timeout to settle things down.
After Spud Webb’s layup with 16:38 on the clock made the GS advantage 42-32, the pendulum swung hard the opposite direction in favor of the Roadrunners. Akitoby’s putback on the next possession pushed the deficit back to single digits and a Moss triple from the corner started to stoke the offensive fire.
Coming out of the under-12 media timeout, Simpson hit a step-through three from the wing, Moss drove to the rack for the tie on the next trip and Simpson muscled his way in for the 47-45 lead with 10:24 to go. Over the next eight minutes, Rich, Moss and then Austin Nunez and Akitoby extended the momentum swing to a 22-6 UTSA scoring push into the final six minutes.
The Eagles tried to jump-start their offense, but back-to-back dagger threes from Moss kept the margin at double-digits into the home stretch.
The Roadrunners hit 9-of-14 free throws across the final three-minute push to seal the 77-64 victory over the Eagles and split the results in the Jacksonville Classic.
Simpson led all scorers with 22 for his fourth game exceeding 20, while also grabbing seven rebounds, going 10-for-13 at the line. Moss knocked down three triples and shot 7-for-15 for a season-best 19 points on top of eight rebounds. Rich also hit double-figures with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, grabbing eight boards with two blocks. Akitoby added nine points with seven rebounds, shooting 4-for-5.
The Roadrunners racked up 47 rebounds and held the Eagles to just 30.5 percent shooting on the night, 23.5 percent from three while defending 34 Georgia Southern shots from beyond the arc.
Up Next
The Roadrunners will close out the month of November with a home date against South Alabama, marking back-to-back games against Sun Belt opposition. UTSA squares off with the Jaguars at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 30 at the Convocation Center in the Fansgiving and Youth Day.
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