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By splitting the two-game series with North Texas, UTSA avoided their first 0-4 start to conference play since the 2012-13 season, when they were members of the WAC. After losing the first game on Friday night the Roadrunners rebounded on Saturday to move their conference record to 1-3.

It is the second time UTSA has started conference 1-3 since joining Conference USA before the 2013-14 season. The last time UTSA started 1-3 was the 2015-16 season. That year the Roadrunners finished 3-15 in Conference USA play in what turned out to be the final season of the Brooks Thompson era.

Though the loss to North Texas on Friday snapped a four-game home winning streak the Roadrunners quickly rebounded on Saturday. One streak that did continue was the Roadrunners streak of games with at least one three pointer made. After Saturday that streak stands at 811 straight games and goes all the way back to 1994. It is the 20th longest streak nationally for games with at least one made three pointer.

A week after opening conference with two losses at Rice, UTSA returned home to the Convocation Center where they would face the North Texas Mean Green.

North Texas were opening their conference schedule a week later than planned after COVID caused the postponement of their series with UAB last weekend. The Mean Green filled their New Years weekend instead with a non-conference loss to Loyola-Chicago.

Before a national TV audience on ESPN U the Roadrunners and Mean Green got together on Friday night. In the early going it was a back and forth affair with the lead changing hands several times in the early minutes. After UTSA went ahead 16-15 with 10:45 left in the first half North Texas retook the lead. The Mean Green closed out the first half on a 23-12 run and took a 38-28 lead into halftime.

The Roadrunners battled back in the second half. With 1:42 to go the Roadrunners got to within one point of the Mean Green when Keaton Wallace drove the lane for a layup to cut the deficit to 69-68. UTSA had a chance to take the lead on their next possession but a three point attempt by Jhivvan Jackson did not go in. North Texas then closed the game out on an 8-2 run to win 77-70.

"We just have to make better plays down the stretch," Jackson said following the game on Friday. "We were playing good defense, we just need to get better shots at the end of the game."

Jackson led all scorers on Friday night with 26 points. Wallace added 14 points. Jacob Germany finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Ivy Curry added eight points.

In a game the Roadrunners had to have in order to avoid an 0-4 start, Jhivvan Jackson stepped up in the second half. Jackson scored 26 of his 31 points on Saturday in the second half as the Roadrunners overcame a three-point halftime deficit and earned their first conference victory of the 2020-21 season.

"There were keys to this game that helped give us a chance," UTSA Head Coach Steve Henson said after Saturday's game. "What our interior guys did on their post ups was awesome. That was an adjustment we made from last night. We wanted to give them a different look."

In the first half on Saturday the Mean Green missed their first five three point attempts and didn't make their first until there were 59 seconds left in the half. The Roadrunners had a little better time of it in the first half as they made three of their 12 three point attempts.

Even so, the Roadrunners found themselves down 34-31 at halftime. It was a slow start for Jackson as he had only five points had halftime. Jacob Germany with 10 first half points and Keaton Wallace with five helped pick up the Roadrunners.

In the second half Jackson got going. He made his first two three point shot attempts to give UTSA a 37-34 lead early in the half.

After North Texas tied the score at 37 the Roadrunners went on a 12-6 run to take a 49-43 lead with 12:58 to play. North Texas chipped away and retook the lead, 50-49 a few minutes later. After UTSA tied the score at 50 with an Eric Parrish free throw the Mean Green went on a 5-0 run to lead 55-50.

The Roadrunners responded with Jackson scoring the next six points to retake a 56-55 lead. The two teams traded the lead back and forth until UTSA took the lead for good, 64-63 on a Germany layup. The next time down the floor Wallace drained a three to put UTSA up 67-63.

"It was great," Wallace said. "We were knocking down shots and getting stops. It came all the way down to the end. That was a good victory."

Jackson's 31 points led the Roadrunners efforts. Germany added 16 points and Wallace pitched in with 14 points. Parrish added six points.

NEXT WEEK: UTSA (5-6, 1-3) will be on the road in Ruston for a two-game series against Louisiana Tech. The first game will be on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. The second game will be Saturday night at 6 p.m.

UTSA's next home series will be January 22-23 when they host Southern Miss.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way