By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Trailing by five points late in the first half and by two at intermission, the South Florida Bulls shot 68 percent the rest of the way and rolled to a 109-88 victory Wednesday night, dealing a 15th straight loss to the UTSA Roadrunners.
Brent Moss, shown here in a file photo from last fall, exploded Wednesday night for a season-high 32 points against South Florida. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Forward Izaiyah Nelson scored 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting from the field, including multiple dunks, to lead the Bulls in front of their home crowd in Tampa, Fla.
South Florida entered tied for third place in the American Conference men’s basketball race, while UTSA came in as the last-place team.
But in a surprise, it didn’t turn into a runaway until deep in the second half, when the Roadrunners, down by double digits, started to gamble on defense.
Regardless, South Florida (15-8, 7-3) kept pace with the leaders in the American and sent last-place UTSA (4-18, 0-10) to its 16th loss in 17 games.
Junior college transfer Brent Moss scored a season-high 32 points to lead the Roadrunners. Moss, who played the last two seasons at Barton Community College in Kansas, finished 10 of 16 from the field. He also hit seven of nine from three.
In the second half, the Bulls did a good job on Moss, keeping him from attempting a shot from the field for 10 minutes. Down the stretch, Moss hit three of seven after South Florida had started to run away with it.
UTSA coach Austin Claunch said in his postgame radio interview with Andy Everett that he knew South Florida would make a run in the second half. But a 12-2 run in the first six minutes seemed to super-charge an already talented team.
From there, the Bulls went from a 69-59 lead to 83-68 in only four minutes. The Roadrunners responded with a push of their own, pulling to within 83-74 with 8:27 remaining on a Daniel Akitoby stick back.
But that was as close as they would get to a Bulls team that would eventually widen the lead to 24 points in the last 20 seconds.
“The way they play, and as well as they move it and shoot it, if you play 30 seconds of bad basketball, it can lead to a 7-0 run,” Claunch said. “They really do a good job. They had 25 assists. They have great shooters.”
Claunch said he still feels good about his team even though it hasn’t won a game since Nov. 25 and several key players are out for the season.
“Let’s go,” Claunch said in the postgame interview. “We got eight more (games left in the regular season). Wins are coming. We feel good about our (preparation) and our work with the guys we have in our locker room.”
Other positives for the Roadrunners included Jamir Simpson, who scored 24 points. As Simpson created his own shots off creative drives to the hoop, he knocked down eight of 15 from the field and finished with his eighth 20-point game of the season.
Akitoby also enjoyed a big night with 14 points and eight rebounds. South Florida defended well against two other UTSA threats, with Austin Nunez scoring seven points to go with six assists. Forward Baboucarr Njie went scoreless with two rebounds in 16 minutes.
Records
UTSA 4-18, 0-10
South Florida 15-8, 7-3
Coming up
North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.
Notable
Later Wednesday night, Trae Broadnax and Nick Anderson scored 22 points each as the Rice Owls held on at home to beat the North Texas Mean Green, 86-83, in double overtime.
Rice improved its record to 4-6 in the conference and to 10-13 overall. North Texas will come into San Antonio for Saturday’s game against UTSA with a record of 3-7 and 12-11.
Despite the program-record losing streak, the Roadrunners traveled to Florida with some momentum.
Last week, playing at home, they led the Temple Owls with four minutes remaining and ended up losing by six. They stayed with the UAB Blazers for 38 minutes before losing by 10.
UTSA’s Brent Moss and Jamir Simpson both attended high school in Lima, Ohio. Moss, who played on a national title team at Barton, is a native of the Bahamas.
Freshman guard Dorian Hayes and Baboucarr Njie were both listed as questionable in the pre-game player availability report.
Hayes didn’t play against South Florida, while Njie logged 16 minutes, missed all three of his shots from the field and pulled down only two rebounds.
Njie, another Ohio native, occasionally has emerged as one of the best players on the floor for UTSA.
Twice since Jan. 14 he has scored 20-plus points. The 6-5 forward recorded blocked shots in seven straight games before failing to get one against the Bulls.
First half
Moss erupted for 23 points on five of five shooting from 3-point distance, leading the Roadrunners to a 50-48 lead on the Bulls.
It was a surprising development for South Florida fans in Tampa, as UTSA came into the game on a 14-game losing streak and averaging only 68 points a game.
Tied for third place in the American, the Bulls initially didn’t have a defensive answer for the Roadrunners, who shot 62.1 percent from the field in the half.
Two UTSA players who played their high school ball in Lima, Ohio, sparked the Roadrunners.
Moss knocked down seven of nine from the field and five of five from three.
With three minutes left in the half, he scored his 20th point, which gave him a season-high. He buried his fifth three with 35 seconds left, lifting UTSA into a 50-45 lead.
Simpson, who has led the Roadrunners in scoring all season, brought an aggressive attitude to the floor. Driving and creating space with a large frame, the 6-6 Simpson hit five of nine shots for 14 points.
High-flying Nelson led the Bulls with 15 points. Point guard CJ Brown added 12.
