FAU’s Isaiah Elohim (left) and Josiah Parker (right) battle under the boards against UTSA’s Kaidon Rayfield Wednesday night at the Convocation Center. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

There will be no March Madness for the UTSA Roadrunners.

Center Devin Williams set the tone defensively in the first half, and Josiah Parker, Isaiah Elohim and Kanaan Carlyle led a second-half surge for the FAU Owls, who defeated the Roadrunners 60-52 Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.

With the loss, last-place UTSA was officially eliminated from contention for a berth in the American Conference men’s basketball postseason tournament.

Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch acknowledged his disappointment in falling short of the 10-team tournament, which will be played from March 11-15 in Birmingham at Legacy Arena.

UTSA sophomore Baboucarr Njie finished with a team-high 21 points and eight rebounds. He hit nine of 13 shots from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

But, in a sense, it was a predictable outcome once he started losing the services of key players over the last few months.

On most nights recently, the Roadrunners were missing either five, six or even seven players. Coming into the FAU game, Claunch’s team had played two straight road games with only eight players active, including only six on scholarship.

Regardless, the Roadrunners found the resolve to break a program-record, 17-game losing streak on Sunday afternoon, winning 88-79 on the road against the Charlotte 49ers.

But back at home in the Convocation Center, with nine players active, UTSA couldn’t get the offense moving and lost for the second time this season against FAU, the visiting team from Boca Raton, Fla.

As a result, the Roadrunners’ record fell to 5-21 overall and to 1-13 in a 13-team conference, with four games to play.

“I’m disappointed with the overall record,” Claunch said. “But you’re not going to see us tank. You’re not going to see us fold. I was proud of our fight tonight, and we’ll continue this in our last four.”

FAU, at 15-12 and 7-7, now has some hope for a strong finish and a push into the tournament at Birmingham.

The FAU Owls, led by coach John Jakus, held the Roadrunners to 30 percent shooting and snapped a six-game losing streak. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Parker, a 6-foot-7 FAU freshman guard, helped the visitors snap a six-game losing streak with 16 points and 13 rebounds. He had 10 points and seven boards after intermission. Elohim, another physical player in the Owls’ backcourt, scored 15 points.

Carlyle, the Owls’ point guard, had 12 points, six rebounds and a team-leading five assists.

Williams, meanwhile, was a problem for the Roadrunners’ most of the night. In the first half, the 6-10 redshirt sophomore had four of his team-high seven blocked shots and always seemed to be lurking around the basket to cut off UTSA drives.

“The fact that he did that early,” FAU coach John Jakus said, “I think they were looking around (for him) at the end.” In the end, Williams also finished with 11 rebounds and eight points.

For the game, both defenses played hard and physical in the paint and on the perimeter, and it showed in the final statistics.

Playing without leading scorer Devin Vanterpool, FAU shot only 36.7 percent for the game, far below its season average of 46 percent. UTSA, in turn, mustered only 30.8 percent.

The Roadrunners, attacking the rim most of the night to compensate for six of 26 three-point accuracy, missed numerous times at close range. UTSA leading scorer Jamir Simpson misfired regularly from close range and finished three for 18 from the field.

Multiple times, it seemed Simpson crashed head-long into heavy traffic inside without a foul being called either way.

That being said, Simpson was not alone in his struggles. Outside of sophomore Baboucarr Njie, nobody else in a home team jersey could really find the range in shooting the basketball. Njie, who hit nine of 13 from the field, carried the Roadrunners with 21 points and eight rebounds. Simpson scored nine.

UTSA’s Jamir Simpson had a tough night with nine points on three of 18 shooting from the field. Simpson leads the Roadrunners with 15.8 points per game. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Brent Moss, averaging 15 points per game over his last seven, was held to six points on two of eight shooting.

Guard Dorian Hayes, returning to play after sitting out the last four games with a shoulder injury, scored one point in 11 minutes. He finished zero for three, all on three-point attempts.

Point guard Austin Nunez sat out his third straight game after landing hard under the basket during the last few minutes of a game against the North Texas Mean Green.

Records

FAU 15-12, 7-7
UTSA 5-21, 1-13

Coming up

UTSA at Tulsa, Sunday, 3 p.m.

Notable

A spokesman in the American Conference office e-mailed earlier Wednesday to confirm that an FAU victory would knock UTSA out of contention for the tournament.

UTSA freshman Dorian Hayes played his first game since Jan. 28. He came off the bench with one point in 11 minutes. – Photo by Joe Alexander

A UTSA spokesman said before tipoff that the Roadrunners needed to beat FAU and then needed to win all of their remaining games to have a chance at qualifying for the American tournament.

Ultimately, a second straight regular-season victory was not in the cards, and instead the Roadrunners dropped their ninth straight home game.

Now 2-10 at home, 2-10 on the road and 1-1 on neutral sites, the Roadrunners are looking only to finish strong in the last few weeks.

UTSA completes its schedule with four games, two at home and two on the road.

The trek starts Sunday in a road game at Tulsa (21-6, 9-5). It continues with two straight home against East Carolina on Feb. 25 and against Wichita State on March 1. The Roadrunners’ 45th season is scheduled to close on the road on March 8 at Rice.

FAU played without leading scorer Devin Vanterpool. Vanterpool, averaging 15.8 points per game, had scored 26 in the Owls loss Sunday at home against the South Florida Bulls. He scored 21 in a 110-70 victory over the Roadrunners on New Years Eve in Boca Raton.

First half

In a first half that featured 11 lead changes and three ties, the Roadrunners emerged with a 28-26 lead.

Aggressive defense and poor shooting by both teams led to a sub-par game on the offensive end.

UTSA held FAU to 30 percent from the field. FAU came into the game second in the conference, shooting 46 percent.

The Roadrunners also struggled, hitting only 36 percent.

Njie led the Roadrunners with 10 points and five of six shooting. The 6-foot-6 guard/forward also had six rebounds, including two on the offensive end.

Elohim paced the Owls with seven points, including five in the last six minutes of the half.

Starting guard Brent Moss was held to six points on two for eight shooting. Moss had averaged 15.5 over the last seven games. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Update: FAU guard Devin Vanterpool will not play Wednesday night at UTSA. Vanterpool’s status was unveiled on the player availability report issued a few hours before tipoff at the Convocation Center.

Vanterpool averages a team-leading 15.8 points per game. He scored 21 in FAU’s 110-70 victory over UTSA on New Year’s Eve in Florida and had 26 Sunday in an FAU loss to South Florida.

For UTSA, player availability remains unchanged from Sunday’s game at Charlotte. Austin Rivers (knee) and Mo Njie (broken finger) are out, with Dorian Hayes (shoulder) listed as questionable.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After nearly three months of frustration, the UTSA Roadrunners discovered the secret of winning on Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C.

They fell behind by 13 points with eight minutes left against the Charlotte 49ers, but instead of folding, they seized momentum and won 88-79 to snap a 17-game losing streak.

The Roadrunners will try to keep the feeling alive on Wednesday when they face the slumping Florida Atlantic University Owls at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

UTSA also needs to win to keep its season alive. An FAU victory will eliminate the Roadrunners from consideration for the American Conference tournament.

FAU soundly beat UTSA 110-70 in Florida on New Year’s Eve, the start of a streak in which the Owls won six of their first seven in American Conference play.

Leading into the rematch, the Owls are struggling with injuries and a six-game losing streak, after falling on Sunday, 83-81 in overtime, to the South Florida Bulls.

FAU enters the game Wednesday at 14-12 overall and 6-7 in the conference, compared to last-place UTSA at 5-20 and 1-12.

“Really, really good offensive team,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said. “They play the fastest tempo in the league. They’ve lost a couple in a row. They’ve had some injuries and some close games. Lost an overtime game (Sunday).

“There’s a lot of firepower there. We’ve got to be clear on personnel. You know, we’ve been mixing up defenses a little bit, and I think that’s been OK for us. But (against Charlotte) our offense really pushed us.

“The defense obviously came alive there and we made some really tough plays. We rebounded and turned them over. That’s got to continue to be a theme for us, you know, finding ways to disrupt Florida Atlantic.”

The Owls enter the rematch against the Roadrunners as the No. 3 scoring team in the league (81 points) and No. 2 in field goal percentage (46.3).

“They’re going to score,” Claunch said. “They’re going to make some shots. But obviously we’ve got to find ways to impact the ball, get deflections and get steals, so that we’re also creating easy offense for us.”

Records

FAU 14-12, 6-7
UTSA 5-20, 1-12

Coming up

FAU at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
UTSA at Tulsa, Sunday, 3 p.m.

Notable

Just as UTSA finds itself on the verge of elimination from conference tournament consideration, the Roadrunners’ offense is finding a rhythm.

The offense is averaging 76.5 points on 45.3 percent shooting in its last four games. UTSA is also hitting 36 percent from three in that stretch.

For the season, UTSA ranks last in the American in scoring (69.6 points) and last in field goal percentage (39.9). The Roadrunners are 11th out of 13 teams in 3-point percentage (29.2).

The American tournament will be held in Birmingham this season. Only 10 teams will make it. As of today, both FAU and North Texas, with 6-7 league records, are tied for ninth in the standings.

The Roadrunners are five games out of the last spot with five to play.

UTSA junior guard/forward Brent Moss has averaged 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals over the last seven games.

In that span, he has scored in double figures six times and has shot 44.9 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from the 3-point line.

Included in the streak is a season-high, 32-point game at South Florida on Feb. 4. Moss had 16 points and six rebounds at Charlotte.

UTSA will have only eight or nine players available for FAU.

The eight definitely available will include Jamir Simpson, Brent Moss, LJ Brown and Baboucarr Njie in the backcourt or on the wings and Kaidon Rayfield, Daniel Akitoby, Matheo Coffi and Jackson Fazande at forward.

Guard Dorian Hayes is questionable with a shoulder injury but was warming up on the court, shooting threes, with about an hour remaining before tipoff. Hayes has sat out the last four games.

“We’re banged up but we’re not short of guys who want to get out here and play,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said.