Advertisement
Published Dec 15, 2019
UTSA races past UTPB
circle avatar
Stephen Whitaker  •  BirdsUp
Staff Writer/Editor
Twitter
@StephenWhit89

Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace lead Roadrunners in 98-55 blowout against Falcons to improve to 4-6 on the season

Advertisement

On Sunday afternoon the UTSA basketball team had a holiday special for the fans. Any fan who brought a new toy would get a free holiday shirt. The Roadrunners then gave the fans a few more gifts with a 98-55 win over the UT Permian Basin Falcons.

It was the Roadrunners third win in a row and fourth win in their last five games. After starting the season 0-5 the Roadrunners have moved to 4-6.

"I thought this game might have some tempo to it," UTSA Head Coach Steve Henson said. "These guys are pretty good offensively, they don't mind playing fast. I was hoping we'd get a lot of possessions in the game and that was certainly the case."

All 13 Roadrunners saw time on the floor on Sunday afternoon. Though 11 of those 13 scored all had different ways to contribute. Jhivvan Jackson led the team with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Keaton Wallace scored 18 points with 15 of those coming from beyond the arc and three from the free throw line.

Wallace played the game wearing a protective mask after getting hit in the nose during practice earlier in the week.

"I had one practice so I had gotten used to it," Wallace said of his mask. "I'll wear it for another week but I'll take it off after i get healed."

Henson spoke of the mask in his postgame press conference as well.

"He got bumped on the nose, didn't break it but had a little swelling," Henson said. "He made three or four threes in the first half so I told him we may just turn it into a Rip Hamilton deal and wear it for awhile. It's not a serious thing."

Adokiye Iyaye added 11 points and like Wallace all of his points either came from beyond the arc or the free throw line.

Jacob Germany added 10 points but also led the team with three blocks. Byron Frohnen pulled down seven rebounds and Adrian Rodriguez added six rebounds to go with four points.

The total team effort resulted in a game that was only close for a few minutes in the first half and the first few minutes of the second half.

"We had a lot of assists and we had some guys make shots," Henson said. "It was good to see Dok (Iyaye) jump up there and make three threes. We made progress defensively. A lot of positives."

Someone who only watched the first few minutes of the game might have wondered if anyone was going to score. Two minutes into the game there had only been one point scored between the two teams.

The one point in the first two minutes came from a Falcons made free throw. Not long after that make the Roadrunners got on the board when Luka Barisic knocked down a three with 16:53 left in the first half. Barisic had the first five points for the Roadrunners on Sunday and finished with nine points.

UTSA held that 3-1 lead for just 20 seconds before the Falcons tied it at three and then took what proved to be their last lead of the day at 5-3 with a basket at the 15:57 mark of the first half.

The Roadrunners tied the score at 5-5 before the first media timeout. Coming out of that media timeout it was as though a flip had been switched. UTSA came out of the first media timeout and went on a 9-2 run to take a 14-7 lead before the next media timeout with 11:56 to play before halftime.

Eventually the Roadrunners lead in the first half would balloon to 33-14 before the Falcons closed the half on a 13-7 run to cut the deficit to 40-27 at halftime.

In the second half the Falcons opened on a 9-3 run to cut UTSA's lead down to 43-36 with 16:27 left to play. That proved to be the closest the Falcons got in the second half as UTSA went on 19-4 run to go up 62-40 with 11 minutes to go.

Over the final 11 minutes of the game the Roadrunners lead only grew larger, at one point reaching as high as 47 points when UTSA lead 98-51 with 1:07 left.

Now the Roadrunners will hit the road on Wednesday for a neutral-site game against Oregon State at Houston's Toyota Center. First tip in that game will be at 4:30 p.m.

"We're just trying to make progress," Henson said. "We had some surprises early, some struggles in some areas. We're just trying to address those and find something to help us develop the identity, develop something that will help us to defeat some really good teams. It's still a work in progress."

Following the trip to Houston the Roadrunners return home to close out the 2019 portion of the schedule with a pair of home games starting next Saturday afternoon against Illinois State. First tip for that game in the Convocation Center will be 3 p.m. UTSA will then have a week off to prepare for a game on December 28 against Our Lady of the Lake which will also tip off from the Convocation Center at 3 p.m.

The last games of 2019
Date/TimeOpponentLocation

Dec. 18/4:30 p.m.

Oregon State

Houston

Dec. 21/3 p.m.

Illinois State

San Antonio

Dec. 28/3 p.m.

Our Lady of the Lake

San Antonio

Advertisement