SAN ANTONIO – Fueled by a phenomenal 21-point Marcus Millender first half, the UTSA men’s basketball team (7-8, 1-2 AAC) squashed a losing skid and picked up their first American Athletic Conference victory by drowning the Wichita State Shockers (10-6, 0-3 AAC) in 15 triples. Shooting a season-high 52.5 percent from the floor, the Roadrunners ran away with Saturday’s game at the Convocation Center in the second half to an 88-75 victory.
With Primo Spears fresh off a 40-point game on Tuesday but knocked out of the game briefly after only 12 seconds, the opportunity arose for his teammates to step up – and the Roadrunners delivered, quickly. Four of UTSA’s first six field goals came from behind the arc, as Damari Monsanto got the Roadrunners moving, and David Hermes and Millender followed in rapid succession, building up a 19-11 advantage on the visiting Shockers.
With Millender pacing the Roadrunners and cresting double-figures within the first 10 minutes, the Shockers’ defense was spread thin, and UTSA’s penchant for takeaways and transition only made matters worse, as the Roadrunners racked up 13 points on fast breaks and 12 points off six steals in the first half. Leading just 22-19, the Roadrunners racked up three WSU turnovers, two threes and a momentum-shifting 10-0 run in a two-minute stretch to extend the lead to 32-19. Leading off the run with the first of his three long-range buckets, Raekwon Horton knocked down the triple, turning right around to push a picked ball up the court for a wide-open Millender layup. Tai’Reon Joseph took one from the Shockers on the next possession and closed the break with a statement dunk. Horton grabbed the next board and finished the possession on the other end with a Millender-assisted jumper – pushing the Shockers to a timeout with their newfound 13-point deficit.
Down the stretch in the first half, Horton and Millender laid it on as the shockers tried to piece together a run – but WSU couldn’t keep pace with the Roadrunners’ 10-2 finish to the period, including an exclamation-point Millender buzzer-beating three, heading into the locker room with a 47-32 advantage.
Millender tied his career high from deep in the first half, knocking down 5-of-6 from long range, shooting 72.7 percent from the field (8-of-11) to pace UTSA to the 15-point lead.
The Roadrunners came back from the break still firing, launching a 13-5 push in the first three minutes of the second half, as Monsanto drained two threes and Horton scored 10 off two layups, a dunk and an and-1 free throw. As the Roadrunners weathered Wichita State’s attempts to restart their offense, Monsanto made it a game-high 22-point lead with 11:29 to go, hitting the fourth of his five threes to push UTSA ahead 71-49. Though the Shockers whittled the deficit to 15 by jumpstarting their own three-point action on a brief 9-2 run, Horton and Monsanto’s final threes provided UTSA the breathing room to dispell WSU’s final push and finish off the 88-75 conference victory.
Pacing all Roadrunners with a season-high-matching 21 points in the first half, Millender also chipped in five assists and two steals.
Horton tied his career scoring high on his third double-double of the year, logging 19 points and 10 rebounds, in addition to five assists and two steals – Horton finished 7-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 beyond the arc.
Monsanto dropped 5-of-7 from three and finished with 17 points and two steals.
Rounding out the double-digit performers on Saturday, forward Jonnivius Smith scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, grabbing five boards and tying his career high with four blocks to bump him even higher among AAC leaders.
Though he didn’t hit his typical scoring quota, Spears finished with eight points and season-high six assists in defeating the Shockers.
The Roadrunners shot 52.5 percent in the overall team victory, including 50 percent (15-of-30) from long range, registering 20 assists. UTSA forced Wichita State into 20 turnovers off eight steals, finishing with 20 points off turnover and 19 fast break points.
The Roadrunners led from their first score and maintained that advantage for 38:59 of Saturday’s game.
WHAT’S NEXT
UTSA heads back on the road early next week, but remains in close range within the Lone Star State, hitting up Rice on Jan. 14 at 7p.m. in Tudor Fieldhouse. The Roadrunners will next play at home in the Convocation Center next Saturday against North Texas.
- UTSA -