Author Archives: Jerry Briggs

UTSA coach Karen Aston shrugs off ranking, saying, ‘We got a long way to go’

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Update: UTSA guard Siena Guttadauro announced through an athletics spokesman on Friday that she will be stepping away from basketball for the remainder of the 2024-25 season for personal reasons. Guttadauro is planning to return for the 2025-26 season, according to the statement.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In the wake of a six-game winning streak, the UTSA women’s basketball team landed at No. 57 nationally in the NCAA’s NET rankings earlier this week. The Roadrunners were 64th on Thursday when they took the floor for an afternoon workout at the Convocation Center.

Without data to know for sure, it’s likely the highest ranking for the UTSA women since the NET came into play in women’s basketball in 2020-21, when officials started to use it to help evaluate teams for selection and seeding in the NCAA tournament.

Regardless, UTSA is at least momentarily the highest NET-ranked team in The American Athletic Conference as it prepares to play a non-conference home game on Saturday against Sam Houston State.

Without placing too much emphasis on their top-64 stature in the first week of the metric’s publication, Roadrunners coach Karen Aston said it’s good to know her players and her program have been noticed.

“Anytime you’re in a better position than you’ve been in the past, it’s a good feeling,” she said. “Obviously you don’t put a lot of weight into it right now. But, I’m proud of where we are. No question, we have not been in that spot since I’ve been here, for sure.

“So, I’m proud of ’em and would like to see ’em get better.”

After UTSA, Tulane came in at No. 90, with South Florida at 99 and Temple 100 as the highest-ranked teams in the American, according to the rankings as they were published on Thursday morning.

“Yeah, it’s good to know that we’re in that position, but we also understand we got a long way to go,” Aston said. “You know, things happen, and you got to keep getting better. There’s a lot for us to (improve on) but we understand that.”

Part of the challenge this week centered on the team’s travel schedule. After traveling to Puerto Rico and beating North Carolina Greensboro and Towson last week, the Roadrunners returned home Sunday and faced a daunting challenge with their academic regimen.

Preparing for final exams scheduled next week is only part of the challenge for the Roadrunners.

“A lot of players, a lot of students in general, don’t really have a lot of finals anymore,” Aston said. “A lot of times, it’s really the week prior to finals that is really hard, because they have to turn in a lot of stuff, a lot of papers.

“Sometimes their last exam is this week instead of finals week. I’ve discovered that this is actually a harder week than finals week.”

Consequently, the players’ attention to detail at practice this week has been “up and down,” the coach acknowledged.

“Coming off the long road trip and having the week off, you’re anxious and maybe a little leery of them letting their guard down and losing an edge that they had before,” the coach said. “But, I mean, it is what it is. They’ll learn some lessons if they don’t have one on Saturday.”

Soon after Sam Houston State (5-2) beat McMurry 74-53 on Thursday, Aston gathered her Roadrunners (6-1) before practice started and told them about the Bearkats’ guard tandem of Kaila Kelley and Fanta Kone. Kelley scored 21 points in the win and Kone had 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

As a team, the Bearkats forced 30 turnovers against the War Hawks.

“They’re relentless,” Aston said. “They really pressure the ball. They play hard. They’re scrappy and real intentional at ball pressure. The live off of transition and turnovers, so it’ll be a challenge.”

Notable

After almost a year of analysis, the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee decided the time was right for full implementation of NET for 2020-21, with ratings percentage index (RPI) no longer being used.

RPI was created in 1981 to provide supplemental data for the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in its evaluation of teams for at-large selection and seeding of the championship bracket. The Division I Women’s Basketball Committee began using RPI in 1984.

North Dakota at UTSA game rescheduled for December 13

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The postponed UTSA men’s basketball home game against North Dakota has been rescheduled for Friday, Dec. 13 at the Convocation Center, with tipoff at 7 p.m.

The teams will meet again in Grand Forks, N.D., on Dec. 15 as part of an in-season home-and-home.

North Dakota and UTSA were set to play on Nov. 9 at the Convo, but the game was postponed when severe winter weather across the Rocky Mountains impeded North Dakota’s ability to travel into South Texas.

Coming up

UTSA men at Arkansas, Saturday, 1 p.m.
North Dakota at UTSA, Friday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m.
UTSA at North Dakota, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2 p.m.

Saint Mary’s survives scare and holds off UTSA in overtime, 82-74

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners lost a basketball game but likely gained a significant amount of confidence on Tuesday night in Moraga, Calif.

Down by 23 points in the first half against one of the best teams on the West Coast, the Roadrunners rallied to tie it at the end of regulation, only to see guard Augustas Marciulionis and the Saint Mary’s Gaels pull away in the extra period for an 82-74 victory.

Marciulionis, who led the Gaels had 23 points and eight assists, scored the first basket of overtime and then knocked down two free throws with eight seconds remaining to clinch the victory for the heavily-favored home team.

Primo Spears led the Roadrunners with 24 points, including 19 after intermission. The fifth-leading scorer in NCAA Division I scored eight points in the last five and a half minutes of regulation and five in overtime. Guard Marcus Millender added 21.

UTSA coach Austin Claunch, whose decision to switch from man-to-man to zone defense likely turned the game around, agreed that the Roadrunners could build on the performance against a team that is expected to play in the NCAA tournament.

“That’s why I’m on their butt about a lot of little things, the things we can get better at, because we showed tonight (that we can compete) and now it’s undeniable to them,” Claunch told Andy Everett on the team’s radio broadcast.

“You know,” the coach added, “I think they really turned a corner together (tonight). I thought our staff did a great job, staying poised and making the right adjustments, and I thought our guys just kept getting on to the next play. (Just) really, really proud.”

Who could question that? While UTSA is a program coming off three straight 20-plus loss seasons, Saint Mary’s has strung together 26-plus victories in each of those three years, with NCAA tournament appearances in each of them.

Moreover, the NCAA released its official NET rankings for the first time this week, and on Tuesday morning, Saint Mary’s was 24th among 364 Division I teams, while UTSA was 295th. After the final horn, however, the two teams looked pretty even.

“This is one we can watch and say, ‘We got something here, it’s coming,’ ” said the 35-year-old Claunch, who is working in his first season with the Roadrunners. “You know, whether it’s next game or down the line or three months, UTSA is coming.”

If his players need motivation leading into a road game set for Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Claunch could show some film of his team’s effort in the second half against Saint Mary’s.

In outscoring the defending West Coast Conference champions 42-28 over a 20-minute period, the Roadrunners forced 10 turnovers and won the rebounding battle, 27-16. On the offensive glass, UTSA held a surprising 13-8 edge.

If the Roadrunners could have cut down on their eight second-half turnovers by just one or two, they might have won the game in regulation. It was a pretty entertaining finish, regardless. Saint Mary’s led by 19 with 11 minutes remaining and by 10 with 8:54 left.

In the final 11 minutes, Millender scored 11 points, while Spears chipped in late with eight. The 6-foot-3 guard from Hartford, Conn., tied the game with six seconds left when he created space on the dribble and hit a pull-up jumper. Saint Mary’s guard Jordan Ross misfired from three at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

In the extra period, the Gaels attacked the Roadrunners’ zone and scored buckets on their first two possessions, one on a right-side drive by Marciulionis and another on a slashing move by Ross. Mitchell Saxen made it a 6-0 run when he hit a couple of free throws, pushing the home team in front, 73-67.

UTSA never got closer than three the rest of the way.

Records

UTSA 3-4
Saint Mary’s 8-1

Coming up

UTSA at Arkansas, Saturday, 1 p.m.

First half

At one point midway through the first half, the Roadrunners seemingly were on the verge of getting blown out. The Gaels executed defensively to perfection in the first 12 minutes and built a 30-7 lead. In response, the Roadrunners kept playing and climbed back into contention.

At the end of the half, they misfired on two opportunities to cut the lead to 10, and the Gaels capitalized, getting a dunk from Mitchell Saxen for a 39-25 edge going into intermission.

Marciulionis led the Gaels in the half with 11 points and three assists. The Gaels hurt the Roadrunners in the paint with Saxen producing eight points and six boards. Also, Luke Barrett had six points and eight boards.

For UTSA, Spears was quiet on the offensive end. He hit only two of nine shots and scored five. Millender led the Roadrunners with 10 points on four of seven shooting. Millender connected on two of two from 3-point territory.

In a horrendous start, UTSA hit only three of its first 19 from the field. But, by intermission, the Roadrunners started to find the range, finishing nine of 30.

Notable

Freshman Boogie Fland produced 18 points and six rebounds Tuesday night as the Arkansas Razorbacks rallied to beat the Miami Hurricanes, 76-73, for their first road win of the season. The Razorbacks (6-2) will host UTSA Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark. John Calipari is coaching Arkansas this season after 15 seasons at Kentucky.

UTSA men to play the 7-1 Saint Mary’s Gaels tonight in California

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Boosted by the nation’s fourth-leading scorer and winners of two straight games, the UTSA Roadrunners will take on the Saint Mary’s Gaels in Moraga, Calif., tonight in men’s college basketball.

Tipoff is at 9 p.m. in a game that will be aired on ESPN+.

UTSA has won two straight for the first time this season, with a neutral-site victory against the Merrimack College Warriors and a win at home against Houston Christian Huskies.

Guard Primo Spears led the Roadrunners in both games by averaging 30 points. Spears, who scored a season-high 31 against the Huskies on Saturday in San Antonio, is fourth in scoring in NCAA Division I with 23.7 points per game.

After taking down Houston Christian 78-71, first-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch made it clear that the Roadrunners remained a work in progress and that they’d need improvement to compete against two national brands this week — the Gaels tonight and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Saint Mary’s, a rival to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference, is one of the premier mid-major programs in the nation. Coach Randy Bennett is in his 24th season at the school and has won 540 games, taking the Gaels to 10 NCAA tournaments along the way.

Receiving votes in both the AP coaches Top 25 polls, the Gaels opened the season with seven straight victories before losing to Arizona State Friday at Palm Desert, Calif.

Records

UTSA 3-3
Saint Mary’s 7-1

Coming up

UTSA at Saint Mary’s, Calif., tonight at 9.
UTSA at Arkansas, Saturday at 1 p.m.

Notable

The NCAA released its official NET rankings this week, and on Tuesday morning, Saint Mary’s was 24th among 364 Division I teams, while UTSA was 295th.

Lithuanian-born Augustas Marciulionis, the Gaels’ leading scorer and the Player of the Year in the WCC last season, is the son of Naismith and FIBA Hall of Fame player Sarunas Marciulionis. A 6-4 guard, Augustas Marciulionis averages 14 points and 5.5 assists to lead Saint Mary’s in both categories.

Sarunas Marciulionis won three Olympic medals, including a gold in 1988 for the Soviet Union, and bronzes in 1992 and 1996 for Lithuania. He played seven years in the NBA, notably in 1991 helping the seventh-seeded Golden State Warriors upset the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs in a first-round playoff series.

Former Spurs players Patty Mills and Jock Landale played at Saint Mary’s.

UTSA women show signs of maturity after winning on back-to-back days in Puerto Rico

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

A day after jetting back to San Antonio from a holiday tournament in Puerto Rico, the UTSA women’s basketball team returned to work on Monday with wind behind its sails, so to speak.

The Roadrunners swept two games at the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, improving their record to a 6-1 on the season and extending their winning streak to six games.

Coach Karen Aston thanked the UTSA administration for allowing her program to make the trip.

“It was an experience for everyone — the staff, student-athletes,” she said. “We have a lot of people, including myself, who’ve never been to Puerto Rico. It was a great, great atmosphere. Tournament was well done.”

The Roadrunners made the most of their trip by notching victories over the UNC Greensboro Warriors and the Towson Tigers.

After dispatching a once-beaten Greensboro team 62-53 on Thursday morning, UTSA walloped winless Towson 71-40 on Friday, the second day of a back-to-back.

“I thought our team played with a good amount of energy,” Aston said. “It was kind of a long trip, so I was curious to see how we would handle back to back games, with Towson not having played the day before, like we did. I thought our team handled it really well, a sign of a different level of maturity.

“I thought we played good in spurts and definitely had some things that we can get back this week and work on.”

Coming up

Sam Houston State at UTSA, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Notable

Upon release of the NCAA’s NET rankings on Monday, the first release of the season, the UTSA women were ranked No. 57 out of 362 Division I programs, the highest of any team in the American Athletic Conference.

Tulane was 90th, followed by South Florida (99) and Temple (100) among the highest-ranked teams in The American.

Only four other teams in the state were ranked higher than UTSA, with Texas listed third, TCU fifth, Baylor 26th and Stephen F. Austin 48th.

The NET rankings were initiated for the 2018-19 season to replace the RPI.

UTSA men hold off Houston Christian down the stretch, 78-71

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Raekwon Horton. The UTSA men's basketball team beat Houston Christian 78-71 on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Raekwon Horton had 19 points and nine rebounds Saturday as the Roadrunners notched their second straight win. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the UTSA Roadrunners, the confidence started to surge earlier this week when they rallied from 14 points down in the final three minutes to beat Merrimack College in Troy, Ala.

It clearly carried over to the waning moments Saturday afternoon at home against the Houston Christian Huskies, when the outcome hung precariously in the balance.

In the end, the Roadrunners made all the key plays and hit all their free throws down the stretch to pull out a 78-71 victory at the Convocation Center.

“I think our guys are confident in close games now,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said. “They know they can do it. They know they’ve been there. I think they also know that if we don’t play better in these next two games, we’re not going to be in a close game. That’s the reality of the situation.”

Austin Claunch. The UTSA men's basketball team beat Houston Christian 78-71 on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Claunch will take his team on the road next week to play at Saint Mary’s, Calif., on Tuesday and at Arkansas on Saturday. – Photo by Joe Alexander

It’s true. The Roadrunners’ schedule gets much tougher next week, when they play on the road Tuesday night in Moraga, Calif., against the Saint Mary’s Gaels, and again next Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., against the John Calipari-coached Arkansas Razorbacks.

“We’re playing the two best teams on our non-conference schedule, really well-coached,” Claunch said. “I love that (the Roadrunners) are confident and understand that they can win close games, but I also understand that we got to get back in the gym. We got to clean up some things. We got to clean up communication.

“We’ve got to be better come Jan. 1 (for) Jan. 4 when we take off for Tulane for conference game No. 1.”

Guard Primo Spears and forward Raekwon Horton carried the Roadrunners against the Huskies. Spears scored 17 of his season-high 31 points in the first half, when UTSA built leads as large as 15 points before taking a 35-26 advantage into intermission.

Horton had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, as the Roadrunners gave up the lead late, only to surge on a 13-4 run in the last three minutes to pull it out.

A Julian Mackey-led rally carried the Huskies to the brink of what would have been their best win of the season. Mackey, a 6-2 guard, scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. He pushed the Huskies into three- and two-point leads late.

But while the Huskies started missing a few free throws at the end, the Roadrunners continued to make theirs, hitting 19 of 19 in the second half. As a result, UTSA saddled HCU with its fourth straight loss, all of them by single digits.

“In the first half, we were locked in,” Claunch said, “but the thing about college basketball, man, it can flip in a hurry. It doesn’t take a lot. They got confident and they have good individual players. Because they’re also aggressive, eventually they’re going to find somebody to get on a run, and that’s kind of what happened.”

Flanked by Spears and Horton in the interview room after the game, Claunch said the two seniors provided “great leadership” during a game that could have gone either way at the end.

“That’s what I expect from them,” Claunch said. “I expect them, when it’s hard, for them to (play with) toughness and to be unselfish. They’re (talking) in the huddle. They’re keeping guys together. They’re both guys that have won at a high level.

“We got a lot to learn. But it’s always good to learn in a win.”

First half

After scoring 29 points against Merrimack in Alabama on Wednesday, 6-foot-3 guard Primo Spears returned home and exploded for 17 in the first half against the HCU Huskies.

The Roadrunners shot 48.3 percent from the field and raced to a 35-26 lead.

Spears’ moves with the ball looked a little like those of Jhivvan Jackson, the Roadrunners’ all-time leading scorer who dazzled fans at the Convocation Center from 2017-21.

Spears would face up with the basket and go into quick, dribble dances that gave him space to operate, and then he’d toss up soft floating jumpers. He took 14 shots in the half and very few, if any, looked forced.

Notable

The Roadrunners entered the game leading the nation in steals per game (12.2) and were eighth in forced turnovers (18.2).

But, in the end, Huskies ballhandlers did a good job. UTSA finished with only four steals and HCU committed only six turnovers. On the other hand, UTSA more than lived up to its billing as a team that hits a high percentage from the free-throw line. It came into the day ranked 15th nationally at 80.2 percent and made 23 of 25 for 92 percent.

Spears entered as the nation’s 12th leading scorer at 22.2 ppg. After his season-high outburst, the Connecticut native and Florida State transfer is now averaging 23.7 points and four assists.

Sitting out the HCU game were UTSA scholarship players Jaquan Scott, Paul Lewis, David Hermes and Tai’Reon Joseph. Scott, recovering from a leg injury, is expected to play at Saint Mary’s. Claunch has said that Joseph, ineligible at the moment, might be available for Arkansas.

For the second straight game, freshman walk-on Baboucarr Njie played a significant role. After making his collegiate debut against Merrimack, the 6-foot-5 guard from Centerville, Ohio, played 20 minutes off the bench. He had two points, three rebounds and also an assist, a block and a steal.

Primo Spears. The UTSA men's basketball team beat Houston Christian 78-71 on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Primo Spears celebrates after the Roadrunners close out the Houston Christian Huskies in the final seconds. – Photo by Joe Alexander.

Puerto Rico Clasico: UTSA women power past Towson, 71-40

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

On the second day of the Puerto Rico Clasico, the UTSA Roadrunners on Friday scored the first 10 points and then cruised to a 71-40 victory over the winless Towson Tigers. After the dominant performance, the UTSA women will leave with a 2-0 record in Puerto Rico, a six-game winning streak overall and loads of confidence going into the month of December.

UTSA, on the defensive end, forced 25 turnovers and held Towson to 30.4 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, the Roadrunners flowed with 18 assists on 29 field goals. Shooting much better than they did on Thursday, they hit 46.8 percent from the field.

From the outset, the Roadrunners seemed to have all the energy. Jordyn Jenkins started the game with an 18-foot jumper and followed it with a 3-point basket. Maya Linton pitched in with a steal and then went coast to coast for a layup. After a Towson timeout, UTSA’s Nina De Leon Negron followed with a three, boosting the Roadrunners into a 10-0 lead.

Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting. De Leon Negron, a Puerto Rico native, had 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The 5-foot-6 UTSA grad senior also punctuated her homecoming with three steals. Cheyenne Rowe led the UTSA reserves with 10 points on five of nine shooting.

For Towson, India Johnston knocked down five 3-point baskets and scored 19.

Records

UTSA 6-1
Towson 0-7

Coming up

Sam Houston State at UTSA, Saturday, Dec, 7, 1 p.m.

Third quarter

Players off the UTSA bench combined to score the last nine points during a 13-0 run to end the third period, vaulting UTSA into a commanding 58-29 advantage. Cheyenne Rowe hit a couple of baskets. Damara Allen contributed one basket and Taylor Ross hit a three.

First half

The Roadrunners kick-started a fast-paced transition game and surged into a 39-22 lead at halftime. They dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 19-8.

Notable

Coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, the Towson Tigers entered this year with high hopes. Now they’re 0-7 and reeling. The schedule has been tough on the Tigers as they played their first five games on the road, including two against Top 25 teams in West Virginia and Maryland. On Sunday, in their first home game, they dropped a 64-57 decision to the Liberty Flames.

UTSA’s Claunch: ‘I can’t remember being part of a comeback like that’

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Primo Spears, Jonnivius Smith and the UTSA Roadrunners created a little momentum for themselves with a split of two games on a trip earlier this week in Troy, Ala.

After losing 86-72 on Monday to the Troy Trojans, the Roadrunners buckled down and claimed an improbable 76-74 victory Wednesday against the Merrimack College Warriors.

Against Merrimack, the Roadrunners were looking at the prospect of returning to San Antonio on a four-game losing streak when they fell behind by 14 points with 3:31 remaining.

They responded with a Spears-fueled 20-4 run in the last three minutes to win.

With a home game looming Saturday against Houston Christian, first-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch took questions on a zoom call Friday to discuss his feelings about the state of the team.

“It was good to get two games back to back where we have 80 minutes that we can really watch and dissect and figure out where we’re making mistakes,” he said. “We got to play a lot better.”

Before the remarkable win Wednesday, the Roadrunners had lost by double digits in three straight, a skid that started at Bradley and continued with a home loss to Little Rock.

After another lackluster showing against Troy on Monday, the comeback against the Warriors was just what they needed.

Smith set it up with his work on the boards and then Spears completed the deal, scoring 15 points in the final 2:51 of the game.

“Obviously it’s great to learn and teach after a win,” Claunch said. “I think part of a growing program is learning how to win when you don’t play your best basketball.”

The circumstances were dire in the second half when the Warriors, playing a zone defense, kept making stops and started building their lead into double digits.

“In the second half, they threw a punch and it sort of looked like, ‘Hey, we’re on the ropes here,’ ” Claunch said.

Spears, a Florida State transfer, came off the ropes swinging, in a manner of speaking. Starting at 2:51 on the clock, he scored 12 points in a minute and a half and then added three more in the final 30 seconds.

“I was really proud of the resiliency and just (the) commitment to playing the next play … and so to finish that game the way we did, I can’t remember a time that I’ve been a part of a comeback like that,” Claunch said. “So, certainly to be sitting here now, coming off a win, coming back to the Convo, we’re excited about tomorrow.”

Records

Houston Christian 2-5
UTSA 2-3

Coming up

Houston Christian at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.

Notable

Claunch said guard Paul Lewis is definitely out for the Houston Christian game. Lewis has missed the last three with a foot injury.

As for forward Jaquan Scott, Claunch said his starter on the front line is more day to day after sitting out the last two. Claunch indicated that guard Tai’Reon Joseph, who is ineligible and hasn’t played yet, is expected to make his UTSA debut soon, possibly by the end of next week.

UTSA could certainly use Joseph’s firepower in upcoming road tests at Saint Mary’s, Calif., on Tuesday or at the University of Arkansas on Saturday, Dec. 7. “Maybe it’s Arkansas, but it’s soon, it’s very soon,” Claunch said.

Against Merrimack, Primo Spears and Jonnivius Smith broke out with their best games as Roadrunners. Spears scored a season-high 29 points and Smith pulled down 20 rebounds, becoming the third player in school history to get that many boards in a single outing.

“I thought Jo’s energy … he was relentless,” Claunch said. “Going after the ball offensively and defensively after the shot was taken, and then to step up and make some big buckets down low. He played through some physicality. It was happy for him to be back in his home state, with some family there, and play the way he did … really happy for Jo. We need him to keep playing that way.”

As for Spears, Claunch said it showed leadership and poise to do what he did late in the game, knocking down three 3-point baskets and converting two more three-point plays in the final 2:51. “We got a ways to go, but it’s wins like those and plays like those that can give your team the confidence to start turning the corner,” the coach said.

Puerto Rico Clasico: UTSA women dominate on the glass and win 62-53

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners built an eight-point lead at intermission, expanded it to double digits for much of the second half and then hung on at the end, downing the UNC Greensboro Spartans 62-53 on Thursday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. UTSA will complete play in the Puerto Rico Clasico on Friday against Towson.

“Really pleased with the win,” UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston told the team’s radio broadcast. “I thought this was going to be a tough game. Thought we did a pretty good job on defense, and we just didn’t shoot the ball well.”

The Roadrunners finished the game with 32.8 percent shooting from the field but dominated on the boards, winning the rebound battle 40-21, including 16-3 on the offensive end. UTSA also handled the ball fairly well. Playing against a team that forces 21 turnovers a game, the Roadrunners committed 13.

Aston said she wasn’t surprised that her team, tied for No. 2 in the American Athletic Conference in field goal percentage, didn’t shoot well.

“You don’t necessarily anticipate shooting … great in an atmosphere like this,” she said. “We hadn’t been in the gym yet. We didn’t get a chance to come in here yesterday.

“We’ll play in a different gym tomorrow. And that’s just kind of the way these tournaments go, so you have to have a calling card,” the coach added. “You have to rely on your defense.”

Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 14 points and nine rebounds. Maya Linton scored 11 while making two 3-pointers. Linton also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Idara Udo scored 10 and pulled down seven rebounds, including three on the offensive end.

Puerto Rico native Nina De Leon Negron had five points, six rebounds and four assists. De Leon Negron struggled shooting the ball, hitting only one of nine. De Leon Negron’s backcourt mate, junior Sidney Love from San Antonio-area Steele High School, had seven points, five assists and four rebounds.

Forward Cheyenne Rowe led the reserves with eight points and five rebounds off the bench.

For the Spartans, who had their four-game winning streak snapped, Jayde Gamble led with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Guard Jaila scored 10 and made a couple of triples.

The Towson Tigers (0-6) will play their first game in the Clasico on Friday against the Roadrunners. Towson opened the season with losses to West Virginia, George Mason and Morgan State. The Tigers most recently have dropped games to Maryland, George Washington and Liberty.

Records

UTSA 5-1
UNC Greensboro 6-2

Coming up

UTSA vs. Towson, Friday, 1 p.m.

Third quarter

Jordyn Jenkins hit a couple of free throws and a layup in the last few minutes of the period as the Roadrunners expanded their lead on the Spartans to 48-35.

First half

Junior forward Maya Linton hit a three in the final seconds of the half, lifting UTSA into a 35-27 lead on UNC Greensboro.

Linton made two of UTSA’s four threes over the first two quarters. She led the Roadrunners in scoring with 10 points, while Idara Udo scored eight. Jordyn Jenkins, UTSA’s leading scorer, was held to four points and sat out much of the second quarter with two fouls. Nina De Leon Negron also had four.

Jayde Gamble scored 10 in the half for the Spartans, while Jaila Lee added eight.

Notable

Like the UTSA Roadrunners, the UNC Greensboro Spartans enter the new season trying to take the next step toward an NCAA tournament berth.

Last year, the Spartans finished 21-12 and 8-6, tied for second in the Southern Conference. After winning twice in the SoCon postseason, with a berth in the NCAA tournament on the line, they lost in the finals to Chattanooga. UNC Greensboro accepted a bid into the WNIT and dropped a first-round game to North Carolina A&T.

This season, in coach Trina Patterson’s ninth at the school, the Spartans have started fast. Losing in their third game on the schedule, they have won four straight leading into Puerto Rico, beating Appalachian State, UNC Asheville, Livingstone and South Carolina State.

Playing on the road at South Carolina State, UNC Greensboro registered 14 steals, forced 27 turnovers and romped to a 53-35 victory. Defensively, the Spartans were good in all areas, holding the home team to 32 percent shooting from the field.

Guard Jayde Gamble, a returning first-team all conference player, had 16 points and five steals in the game. Gamble is averaging 13.3 points, four rebounds and 2.8 steals for the season. Jaila Lee is another threat, averaging 11.6 points.

Spears-led UTSA rallies to knock off Merrimack, 76-74

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Guard Primo Spears exploded for 15 of his season-high 29 points in the last three minutes Wednesday as the UTSA Roadrunners rallied from a late 14-point deficit to beat the Merrimack College Warriors, 76-74, in a neutral site game at Troy, Ala.

“A huge win,” Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch said later. UTSA needed 20-4 runs at the start of the game and at the end to claim its first victory of the season against an NCAA Division I opponent.

The Warriors didn’t flinch when they fell behind early, executing a rally that pushed them, ultimately, into a 70-56 lead with 3:31 remaining.

After that, UTSA stepped up the defense, and Spears took over on the other end. In a remarkable two-minute sequence, the Florida State transfer hit a 3-pointer, scored on a traditional three-point play and then rained in two more triples.

Spears’ last three in the outburst trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 73-68 with 1:19 remaining.

From there, UTSA applied a full-court press. Walk-on freshman guard Baboucarr Njie, in his first game for the Roadrunners, responded by forcing a turnover and hitting a free throw. After another Merrimack turnover, UTSA point guard Marcus Millender followed with a 3-point bucket of his own out of the corner.

When Millender’s shot went down, the Roadrunners had pulled to within one, trailing 73-72. On the other end, the Warriors missed two free throws, which set up the final chaotic 40 seconds of the game.

First, Spears dribbled through traffic and threw in a runner to give the Roadrunners the lead. He was fouled on the play and went to the free throw line to knock it down with 25 seconds left, giving UTSA a two-point edge. On the other end, the Warriors misfired from three.

UTSA’s Jonnivius Smith, who dominated the defensive glass all day, rebounded and was fouled. He went to the line and missed his first free throw but made the second for a 76-73 edge. Fouling immediately on the inbounds, the Roadrunners put Adam Clark on the line with four seconds remaining.

He made the first one and missed the second.

Spears rebounded, drew a foul and went to the line. But he missed both with 2.4 seconds left, giving Merrimack one last chance. With 94 feet to travel, the Warriors inbounded to Clark, who tried to race it up for a game-winning attempt. But he lost the handle and couldn’t get off a shot.

Smith, a transfer from Buffalo, finished the game with 11 points and 20 rebounds. Spears hit 11 of 22 shots from the field and five of nine from 3-point distance, For Spears, it was his first big moment with the Roadrunners.

The Florida State transfer entered the game having scored 27, 20, 15 and 20 in UTSA’s first four games. Regardless, UTSA had lost lost three straight since an opening-night victory over Division III Trinity, and the team had dropped three in a row to Division I schools, all by double-digit margins.

The Roadrunners needed a Division I victory in the worst way, and they got it courtesy of Spears, who scored 17 in the last four minutes. Clark finished with 28 points for the Warriors, who lost their sixth straight.

Told on the team’s radio broadcast that his team had outscored Merrimack 20-4 in the final three minutes, Claunch said, “Is that what it was?

“Listen,” he added, “that was an interesting two hours, or however long it was. We obviously came out really ready to go and kind of jumped on them … (But) we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”

Claunch lamented the 20-4 UTSA lead at the start of the game that vanished with sloppy play and poor execution on both ends.

The Warriors’ zone defense had something to do with it, but, still, by the middle of the second half, the Roadrunners seemed a little bit lost.

With UTSA going through a seven-minute drought without a field goal, Merrimack’s Clark seemed to have the game on a string, dribbling through traffic and scoring almost at will. His bucket inside with 3:31 remaining lifted the Warriors into a 70-56 advantage.

Spears said the UTSA defense rose to the challenge at the end.

“We talk about getting kills, getting stops three times in a row,” Spears told broadcaster Andy Everett, “and in the last three minutes I thought we did a hell of a job with that.”

Given the opportunities to make something happen, the Roadrunners’ offense came to life.

“We have some incredibly talented people in that locker room on offensive end,” Spears said. “If we get in transition, if we get to run, we play our best basketball … Once we got downhill … and the late got more open, we were able to attack the rim.”

Claunch singled out the effort of Njie, the younger brother of Roadrunners center Mo Mjie.

“I thought Bob Njie, the true freshman, came in and gave us a huge spark,” the coach said. “Again, you just keep playing. It’s stuff you drill in practice and you emphasize. But until your guys see it (in a game) … this is a huge win.”

Records

UTSA 2-3
Merrimack 1-6

Coming up

Houston Christian at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.

First half

Smith forced a turnover and drove the length of the floor to hit a layup in the last few minutes as the UTSA Roadrunners took a 37-36 lead on the Merrimack Warriors.

Coming off the bench, Smith led the Roadrunners in the half with eight points and 11 rebounds. Three of his boards were snared off the offensive glass. Damari Monsanto also had eight points, hitting a couple of threes to boost his total.

For Merrimack, Clark scored 12 in the half and Devon Savage eight.

Forcing turnovers and running efficient offense in a near empty gymnasium, the Roadrunners raced to a 16-point lead in the first six and a half minutes. UTSA held a 20-4 lead when Naz Mahmoud hit a three.

In response, Merrimack surged on a 27-11 run to tie the game. A driving layup by Bryan Etumnu knotted the score at 31-all with five minutes remaining.

Notable

The game was being played at Troy, Ala., the home of the Sun Belt Conference’s Troy Trojans. It was UTSA’s second and final game in the Trojan Turkey Tipoff. Both UTSA and Merrimack entered the game on losing streaks. UTSA had lost three in a row, while Merrimack had dropped five straight.

Jonnivius Smith pulled down 20 rebounds, five shy of the UTSA school record, to become one of only three players in UTSA history with 20 or more.

Lennell Moore holds the record with 25, establishing the mark on Jan. 5, 1987 against the Centenary Gentlemen in Shreveport, La. Clarence McGee had 20 for the Roadrunners on Feb. 27, 1988 at home against the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys.

For Smith, it may be a game he remembers for awhile. A native of Selma, Ala., he pulled down his career-high in a game played in his home state.

Playing for the University of Buffalo the past two seasons, he had his previous high game of 19 boards on Nov. 6, 2023, at home in Buffalo, against Farleigh Dickinson.

UTSA freshman guard Baboucarr Njie, the younger brother of UTSA center Mo Njie, made his UTSA debut by substituting into the game with a little less than 13 minutes remaining in the half. Baboucarr Njie, a walk-on, finished with five points and four rebounds.

Not available to play were forward Jaquan Scott and guards Paul Smith and Tai’Reon Joseph. Scott and Smith are nursing injuries. Joseph is ineligible.