UTSA continued its run in Katy with a semifinal victory over Sam Houston
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EDITORS NOTE: This is the fourth installment of a seven part series looking back at the 2010-11 Roadrunner men's basketball team and their unlikely run to an NCAA Tournament berth
The Roadrunners try to solve the Sam Houston Bearkats
By the time the sun rose over Katy, Texas on Thursday March 10, 2011 there were only four teams left with a chance at lifting the Southland Conference trophy.
UTSA, by virtue of a last second upset of two-seed Northwestern State the day before, was one of those four teams. Their challenge on March 10 was to upset the Sam Houston Bearkats.
Sam Houston was the defending Southland Conference tournament champions. The Bearkats were in their eighth conference semifinal in 12 years and at the time had the second most wins among the 20 division I schools in Texas since the turn of the new millennium.
The Bearkats were under a first year head coach in Jason Hooten but that hadn't stopped them from sweeping the season series with UTSA. The Roadrunners and Bearkats had opened the conference season against each other in San Antonio on January 8. Sam Houston had won that game 62-59. Later in January the two met again in Huntsville with the Bearkats winning 88-67 to snap the Roadrunners three-game winning streak.
UTSA had lost eight of their last 10 against Sam Houston leading into the semifinal game. One of the Roadrunners two wins in that stretch had been two years earlier in the Southland Tournament quarterfinals when the six-seed Roadrunners had knocked off the three-seed Bearkats.
At 6 p.m. on Thursday March 10 the two teams took the court at the Merrell Center with a spot in the Conference Championship game on the line. UTSA entered with a three-game winning streak. Sam Houston entered riding a four-game winning streak.
By 8 p.m. that night one team's winning streak--and season--would be over.
The first half against Sam Houston
As he had been for much of the Roadrunners run to the semifinals, Devin Gibson was the team's spring board. Gibson opened the game scoring the first five points. Three of those came at the free throw line after the Bearkats fouled Gibson on a three-point attempt.
Sam Houston answered with back to back buckets to cut the Roadrunner lead to 5-4. Larry Wilkins then put UTSA back up by three points with a layup. The Bearkats tied the score at 7-7 with 17:14 left in the first half. UTSA retook the lead with a jumper from Melvin Johnson less than 20 seconds later.
The Roadrunners held onto the lead for the next 3:48 of action before Sam Houston tied the score at 15 with 13:08 left before halftime. UTSA then went on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 27-17 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half.
Sam Houston battled back with a 10-0 run in three minutes to tie the score at 27 with 5:56 left in the half. UTSA retook the lead with a free throw from Devin Gibson and increased the lead to four, 31-27, with a three from Kalif Bakare.
The Bearkats went on a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 32-31 with 3:35 left in the half. The lead switched hands three times in the final 3:30 of the half before the clock ran out with the score tied at 37.
Knocking off the Bearkats to advance to the championship game
Sam Houston opened the second half with a layup 26 seconds into the half. Jeromie Hill retook the lead for UTSA, 40-39, with a three pointer falling 13 seconds later.
The Bearkats retook the lead 20 seconds later at the 19:01 mark and held onto the lead until the 15:04 mark when Gibson knocked down a three to give UTSA a 45-44 lead.
UTSA's lead lasted 23 seconds before Sam Houston went back in front, 47-45, with a layup and free throw. Between that free throw at the 14:41 mark and the 12:00 mark the game turned into a contest where UTSA would tie the score and then Sam Houston would retake the lead.
Melvin Johnson put a stop to that trend when he got a three with 11:56 remaining to give UTSA a 54-52 lead. That was the last time the lead would change hands. The Roadrunners lead bounced from as low as one point to as high as 10, three different times in the second half.
In the final four minutes of the second half the Roadrunner lead never went lower than seven points. When the clock struck zero the Roadrunners had notched a 79-70 victory over Sam Houston.
The unlikely run of the Roadrunners would continue. UTSA would have to wait until March 12 for their next game but there would be a next game.
For the second day in a row the Roadrunners stayed past their game to see who they might be playing in the next round. The other semifinal was between the top seed McNeese State Cowboys and the four seed--and UTSA's I-35 rival--Texas State Bobcats. The Cowboys proved to be too much for the Bobcats as they won 91-83.
There would be a day off between the semifinals and championship. Whether that day off would stop the Roadrunners run or not would be known on Saturday afternoon, March 12, 2011.
Next up: The Ride of March Part 5 -- Roadrunners and McNeese face off with a ticket to the NCAA tournament on the line
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way
