SAN ANTONIO – Despite the best efforts from a three-headed attack of Jamir Simpson, Dorian Hayes and Daniel Akitoby leading a short bench, the UTSA men’s basketball team (5-23, 1-15 AMER) dropped a heartbreaker to East Carolina 10-18, 5-10 AMER) in a stunning finish on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center, 82-81.
The early play set the stage for a full-on dogfight, as East Carolina made back-to-back threes to build an early lead, but the Roadrunners came roaring back quickly with Baboucarr Njie tying the game just over four minutes in. The Pirates edged back in front on Jordan Riley’s jumper at 15:20, clinging to their advantage for the next seven minutes, until Brent Moss drove across the lane and kicked it to Hayes for the game-tying three on the right wing to make it 23-all.
On the next trip up the floor, Akitoby drained a long-ranger from the corner and Simpson drove the lane for a dunk to make it 28-23 at the tail of the 8-0 run. Three consecutive Akitoby dunks made it an eight-point advantage and Hayes drained a true step-back three to make it 37-28 toward the Roadrunners with 4:38 remaining. Simpson clocked the 34-43 halftime lead with a drive to the hoop in the closing seconds of the period.
A hair outside of the 10-minute mark to the break, UTSA knocked down eight consecutive shots and made 12 of their final 14 shots in building up the nine-point advantage.
Though Moss got a dunk in the first 28 seconds of the new half to make the lead 11, the Pirates came rushing back, firing off an 11-0 run over the next 2:32 to tie the game at 45 with Corey Caulker’s second-chance three off a missed ECU free throw.
Just 23 seconds later, Simpson found Mathéo Coffi on the perimeter to nudge back in front – and ECU’s Jordan Riley countered with a triple of his own. Akitoby got a putback followed by Moss dropping another three to give UTSA some much-needed cushion, as ECU would tie the game three more times over the ensuing three minutes.
Breaking out of a 57-57 knot, Moss put away another triple and Simpson scored eight of the next 13 points to start rebuilding UTSA’s advantage, with Hayes pulling up for a long three at the top of the key to push UTSA ahead 73-66 with 6:19 to go.
However, Eli Delaurier chipped off five points over the next two possessions and Riley tied the game yet again at the free throw line. After breaking two more ties, Riley nudged ECU ahead at the line at 1:48, but Njie responded with a key heads-up play, taking a backcourt inbound all the way up the floor for a physical finish and the 78-77 lead with just over a minute to go.
On the ensuing ECU possession, Njie picked Riley’s pocket, but the Roadrunners couldn’t convert on the turnover. With just 12 seconds left, Njie blocked Riley from behind and Simpson collected the rebound. After his free throws, UTSA went ahead 81-78 with 7.2 seconds on the clock.
The Roadrunners opted to foul Caulker as ECU dashed to midcourt for a timeout. Caulker made the first but the rebound from the second shot’s miss bounced wide to Demitri Gardner at the three-point line and a foul was called as he pulled up for a shot.
Fighting through the icing timeout from the UTSA bench, Gardner put down all three free throws and gave ECU the final 82-81 lead with 3.4 seconds on the clock, taking the win after Hayes’ final attempt was off the mark.
Simpson finished with a rare double-double of 22 points and 10 assists – the most assists since Christian Tucker tied the program record with 14 in 2024. Simpson finished 8-of-11 from the field, also grabbing four steals. A huge force early for the Roadrunners, Akitoby finished with a career-high 17 points and nine rebounds, also shooting 8-of-11 from the field, making two assists and two blocks. Hayes made it 37 points over the past two games with 18 Wednesday night, shooting 50 percent and 67 percent from three, adding six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Moss also scored 10 for the Roadrunners.
The Roadrunners shot a season-high 57.4 percent from the field and were 45.5 percent from three, making 19 assists on the night.
In total, there were 11 ties and seven lead changes in the game.
Up Next
The Roadrunners return to the Convocation Center on Sunday for the home finale and Senior Night for Stanley Borden, LJ Brown, Mo Njie and Jamir Simpson, hosting Wichita State with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
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