SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (4-8) battled back from a 13-point deficit to take a late lead over visiting Seattle (11-2), but ultimately came up just short on Monday afternoon at the Convocation Center. Both going over 20 points, junior wing Macaleab Rich and grad guard Jamir Simpson engineered a huge rally for the Roadrunners against the Redhawks, despite the setback extending UTSA’s losing streak to five on the 71-68 final.
UTSA struck the first blow with Mathéo Coffi and Rich putting away the first two scores across the opening two minutes. However, the Redhawks found their footing and scored three unanswered buckets to take their first lead. Simpson tied it once more with a pair of free throws, but Seattle created a little breathing room with a triple from Brayden Maldonado and a field goal by Will Heimbrodt. Though Simpson and Brent Moss kept things to a single possession briefly, the Redhawks outscored the Roadrunners 15-2 over the next seven minutes en route to a 37-24 advantage at the break.
Coming out of half, Seattle went up 14 early in the second half, but coming out of a 16:19 UTSA timeout, the Roadrunners started a furious rally with Coffi firing the ball inside to Baboucarr Njie slicing the late for the contested layup. Coffi called his own number for the next score, delivering from beyond the arc, then forcing a turnover on the other end. After a Njie free throw, Rich muscled his way in for a paint jumper, Njie found Nunez on the perimeter for a fast-break three that drew the deficit to three with 12:54 remaining on an 11-0 run.
A Jun Seok Yeo free throw finally snapped the Redhawks out of a near-four-minute drought, and Seattle moved its lead back to six. Simpson drove the late and pump-faked for the and-one jumper that cut the SU advantage to a single point after a successful trip to the line. Just two minutes later, Moss pushed UTSA in front for the first time in 17 minutes.
The Redhawks pushed back and moved back in front by four. Trailing again with under five minutes to go, Rich delivered on the and-one opportunity and Nunez collected the next rebound, pushing the ball ahead to Simpson for a long-ball score. Simpson added the next bucket for a 64-60 UTSA lead with 2:33 left.
Maldonado countered for Seattle with a three of his own 15 seconds later and the Redhawks capitalized on a turnover to go back in front on a Yeo fast break layup. Austin Maurer and Maldonado hit six consecutive free throws to keep UTSA at arm’s length. A turnover stepping on the line off a board proved costly for the Roadrunners with 33 seconds to go in a one-point game, as the final UTSA possession fell short on Moss’ three in the final second to lock the 71-68 Seattle win.
The closest finish of the year for the Roadrunners, Rich led all scorers with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, grabbing three boards – logging the most points by any Roadrunner this year. After just four points at half, Simpson registered 16 second-half points for his seventh 20-point performance of the year, also notching five rebounds, two steals and a career-high six assists. Coffi collected 10 rebounds to go with seven points and two assists – logging six boards and both assists in the second half.
Recovering from a 35.7 percent shooting first half, UTSA rallied with 51.6 percent in the second period, finishing at 44.1 percent. The most dimes since Nov. 30, UTSA came away with 16 assists.
Up Next
The holiday break is on for the next five days, before the Roadrunners begin preparation to open American Conference play on New Year’s Eve in Boca at Florida Atlantic, then make a quick move north to face Temple in Philadelphia on Jan. 3 in a nationally televised ESPNU matchup with the Owls. UTSA will next play at home in the Convocation Center on Jan. 7 against Charlotte for the Lights Out Game.
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