Men's Basketball Controls UTSA Offense En Route To 70-65 Victory

Wednesday, December 28

San Antonio, TX

5:00 pm

UC Riverside

UT San Antonio

Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta

Men's Basketball Controls UTSA Offense En Route To 70-65 Victory

12/28/2011 4:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

San Antonio, TX—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team put a wet blanket over the previously flammable UTSA offense, and withstood a late second-half run to pick up a 70-65 road win over the Roadrunners Wednesday evening. (Box Score)

UTSA entered the game averaging 75.0 points thanks to 45.8% shooting from the field, but UC Riverside held the 'Runners to 10 points below that average and just 36.8 shooting on the night.

The Highlanders led 28-23 at the half, but the Roadrunners opened the second stanza scoring 11 of the first 13 points of the period, giving UTSA its first lead since early in the first half.

Robert Smith drilled a three from the top of the key with 14:43 to go in the second to end the run, and following a UTSA free throw by Alex Vouyoukas, Kareem Nitoto hit a three-ball from in front of the Highlanders bench to put UCR back on top, 36-35. UC Riverside would never trail again.

The Highlanders forced a turnover on the next UTSA possession, and Smith connected on his third triple of the night to push the UC Riverside lead to four, 39-35. After a pair of Roadrunners free throws, Nitoto drained the Highlanders fourth consecutive three-pointer for a 42-37 advantage.

UCR would go on to score 13 of the next 17 points of the game extending their lead to a game-high 14, 55-41.

UTSA didn't go quietly, though. The Highlanders still led by 10, 64-54, with 0:52 on the clock, when Kannon Burrage made a lay up to reduce the UCR lead to single digits. After Nitoto missed the front end of a one and one, Jeromie Hill connected on a three-pointer to make it a five-point game. Nitoto made his next two shots from the charity stripe, but Melvin Johnson III drained his own shot from long range to cut the UCR lead to four, 66-62.

UC Riverside was able to hold on, however, as Nitoto made two more freebies, and Kevin Bradshaw and Martin each made a free throw to seal the victory.

It was all Highlanders in the early going as the Roadrunners misfired on eight of their first 10 shots as UCR built a 14-7 lead at the second media time out. The 'Runners put together a 6-0 run coming out of that break, but Phil Martin's jumper with 9:15 to go ended the streak, and with 7:51 left, UCR found itself up by seven again, 20-13.

The Highlanders scored the first two baskets coming out of the eight-minute media time out, the second of which came on an emphatic Martin dunk who drove baseline for his first points of the game.

UTSA continued to struggle from the floor, but stayed in the game by going 8 of 10 from the free throw line during the first 20 minutes of action. However, the Roadrunners ended the half on a 10-3 run, and the Highlanders took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.

Nitoto led UCR with 20 points, while Smith added 16 and Elliott Berry came off of the bench for 11. The pair combined to go eight of 12 from three-point range on the night. Bradshaw chipped in with 10 rebounds for the Highlanders. Hill paced the Roadrunners with a game-high 21.

The Highlanders return home to begin Big West Conference play with a Monday, January 2 home game against Cal State Northridge. Tip is slated for 7 pm PT.