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The Roadrunners entered their home opener looking to avoid the kind of history that isn't fun to accomplish. A loss to Wiley College would mean the first 0-6 start in program history. They barely prevented the feat from happening last year by beating Houston Baptist 86-82 for their first win in the sixth game. For another year the 0-6 start has been avoided. UTSA pulled away from the Wiley Wildcats in the second half for a 90-68 win.

"It took us a while to get stops and crank it up defensively," Henson said. "We kind of let them hang around. Then guys stepped up, Atem and Keaton stepped up defensively, Jhivvan got a little more active."

There were times it got close and Wiley College even held a lead early in the first half but eventually the Roadrunners made the baskets they needed to make and turned a close game into a laugher against the No. 22 ranked team in the NAIA level of college basketball.

Several Roadrunners were key contributors on Friday night. There were the usual suspects, Jhivvan Jackson led the team with 31 points followed by Keaton Wallace with 14 and Atem Bior with 11. Then there was Erik Czumbel, the freshman from fair Verona, Italy. In his first career start as a Roadrunner Czumbel scored 10 points and dished out five assists, second only to Wallace's seven.

"I'm really proud of Erik," Henson said. "He's been steady all year in practice. We think he can help Keaton get back to his normal self. Was glad to see Erik do it against a quicker team. These guys were trying to drive it at us and it was good to see Erik battle against that type of offense."

The Roadrunners used a total of 10 players tonight and eight of those 10 put points on the board. All 10 played a role in the game. Jacob Germany may have only managed six points on the night but two of his makes were put backs of missed shots that turned into momentum shifters.

Luka Barisic added nine points and led the Roadrunners with seven rebounds. Czumbel was the next Roadrunner among rebound leaders as he finished with six, five of which came on the defensive end of the court.

"I try to do my part in every aspect of the game," Czumbel said. "Defense especially."

While the end result of the game was comfortable for the Roadrunners, the same couldn't be said for the early portion of the game. After UTSA opened on a 6-0 run the Wildcats answered with an 11-3 run to take their only lead of the night at 11-9. The Wildcats advantage lasted only 31 seconds before UTSA retook the lead on a three pointer from Knox Hellums. Hellums eventually finished with eight points.

The Hellums three was part of a 12-0 run over the span of 3:31 that saw UTSA push its lead to 21-11. In the larger scheme of things the Roadrunners went on a 22-5 run after the Wildcats took the lead and led by 15 points twice in the first half. The Wildcats didn't give in though as they got to as close as four points behind the Roadrunners before UTSA pushed into the half with a 39-31 lead.

Wiley came out firing in the second half and went on a 15-8 run in the first 6:19 to cut the deficit to 47-46. That proved to be the high-water mark for the Wildcats in the second half as Bior got a layup to give UTSA a 49-46 lead and the Roadrunners commenced a 21-8 run over the next 10 minutes or so to put the game squarely out of reach.

An unsung hero in the Roadrunners win might have been the fans in attendance.

"The home crowd gave us a lot of energy," Czumbel said.

The Roadrunner students section especially was in midseason form and led to one of the Wildcats receiving a technical foul late in the game that provided Jackson with two extra free throws in addition to the two he was going to shoot anyway.

For one night there are good feelings. Though the Roadrunners are 1-5 on the season the rough start can be put behind them with a string of winnable games between now and their neutral site game against Oregon State in Houston on December 18.

Henson had his thoughts on what led to the 0-5 start and how even with the first win under their belt there is still much to improve on.

"Everything, playing good teams, playing poorly defensively, not shooting the ball well," Henson said. "Most of our individuals were not playing the way they're capable of playing. Some of that stuff you know was going to work itself out. Just have to go through some growing pains here. Today was another part of that process. Always good to get a win.

The Roadrunners will have a week to prepare for their next opponent, Prairie View A&M. UTSA will welcome the Panthers to the Convocation Center on November 30 for a 7 p.m. start.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way