SAN ANTONIO – After a promising start to Saturday’s rematch, the UTSA men’s basketball team (4-19, 0-11 AMER) lost steam heading into halftime against North Texas (13-11, 4-7 AMER) and never fully recovered. The Mean Green extended a scoring run into the opening minutes of the second half and pulled away from the Roadrunners to an 81-58 win at the Convocation Center.
Contrary to the opening minutes of the first meeting between the Roadrunners and Mean Green last month in Denton, UTSA jumped out with the early advantage and kept the shots falling. The Roadrunners maintained a lead for nearly 15 minutes of the first half but couldn’t get enough separation to pull away. A Jamir Simpson corner three at 13:33, a pair of Baboucarr Njie free throws at 8:12 and a Daniel Akitoby second-chance bucket at 7:23 each gave the Roadrunners a five-point advantage. However, each opportunity was met with a Mean Green counterpunch.
North Texas knotted the score up for the first time with 5:54 remaining before halftime, as the Mean Green pushed the ball and Je'Shawn Stevenson dumped off to a trailing Dylan Arnett on the fast break. Coming out of the media timeout, Simpson found Brent Moss for a corner three to push UTSA ahead 26-23 and it looked like everything was back on track for the Roadrunners.
However, after shooting near 50 percent for the rest of the half, the Roadrunners couldn’t land one in the bottom of the net. UTSA missed its next eight shots and a trio of turnovers fueled an 11-0 UNT scoring run while holding UTSA without a score for the final 5:26 to take a 34-26 lead into the break.
Coming out of the half, the Roadrunners didn’t pick back up right away offensively, and the Mean Green capitalized, growing the run to 25-0 after the first three minutes of the second half – with Mo Njie finally breaking the spell at the free throw line with 17:03 remaining.
The Roadrunners had scoring spurts throughout the half, but only drew the deficit to 18 at 7:12 when Simpson put away a tough runner from the free throw line. North Texas shrugged off the 6-0 UTSA scoring run and closed out the 81-58 win.
Though shooting slumps slowed the Roadrunners, turnovers ultimately were the difference-maker, as UNT did what they do best and converted 18 UTSA turnovers to 34 points on the board.
Simpson was steady for the Roadrunners in his 21st double-figure scoring performance of the year, shooting 7-for-16 for a team-high 17 points. Baboucarr Njie scored 11 with five rebounds and a pair of steals, while LJ Brown led UTSA on the glass with a career-best six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Up Next: The Roadrunners will spend the week away in the Tar Heel state, scheduled for games at East Carolina (Feb. 11) and Charlotte (Feb. 15), before next returning to the Convocation Center to rematch with Florida Atlantic for Student Appreciation night on Feb. 18.
- UTSA -