Guard Jaren Lewis produced 20 points and 17 rebounds Saturday afternoon, lifting Abilene Christian to an 80-69 victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals in Southland Conference men’s basketball.
Playing in Abilene, the Wildcats (15-11, 7-6) built a 16-point lead at intermission and stayed in front by double figures for most of the second half.
The Cardinals (5-17, 0-12) effectively attacked the basket and gained an advantage by hitting 26 of 36 free throws, to only 9 of 14 for the home team.
But they shot 40 percent from the field in losing their 14th straight game. Freshman Keaton Hervey led UIW with 17 points.
Guard Manu Lecomte scored 11 points in a late surge Saturday as the Baylor Bears pulled away for an 80-64 victory over the 10th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.
Playing at home, Baylor (15-10, 5-7) won its third game in a row to keep alive hopes for a fifth straight trip to the NCAA tournament.
Kansas (19-6, 8-4) whittled a 13-point deficit to two in the second half but couldn’t sustain the momentum in falling out of first place in the Big 12 conference.
The Jayhawks have won 13 straight Big 12 titles.
Seven-foot center Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. led Baylor with 19 points. Lecomte heated up late and finished with 18. Nuni Omot came off the bench for 17.
Devonte’ Graham paced Kansas with 23 points. But backcourt mate Svi Mykhailiuk was held to only 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting.
Mykhailiuk entered the game averaging 16.4 points.
Big 12 standings
Texas Tech 20-4, 8-3
Kansas 19-6, 8-4
West Virginia 18-7, 7-5
Kansas State 17-7, 6-5
Oklahoma 16-8, 6-6
TCU 17-8, 5-7
Baylor 15-10, 5-7
Texas 15-10, 5-7
Okla. State 15-10, 5-7
Iowa State 13-11, 4-8
Saturday’s scores
Baylor 80, Kansas 64, at Waco
Iowa State 88, Oklahoma 80, at Ames, Iowa
Oklahoma State 88, West Virginia 85, at Morgantown, W.Va.
TCU 87, Texas 71, at Fort Worth
Texas Tech at Kansas State, 7 p.m.
The surging UTSA Roadrunners will start a three-game Conference USA road swing Saturday night in El Paso against UTEP.
UTSA (13-11, 6-5) and UTEP (7-16, 2-9) will meet at the Haskins Center in a game that starts at 8 p.m. central time.
If the Roadrunners win, they would complete a two-game, regular-season sweep of the Miners for the first time in five seasons of UTSA’s membership in the C-USA.
UTSA beat UTEP 65-61 in San Antonio on Jan. 20.
A victory also would keep alive hopes for the Roadrunners to claim a top-four finish in the C-USA standings, which would be rewarded with a first-round bye in the postseason tournament.
Currently, Middle Tennessee leads the conference at 11-1, followed by Old Dominion and Western Kentucky at 9-2 and Marshall and North Texas at 7-4.
After winning three straight, UTSA is in sixth place at 6-5, while Louisiana Tech and Alabama-Birmingham are tied for seventh at 6-6.
Freshman guard Jhivvan Jackson has led the Roadrunners in wins over UAB, Marshall and Western Kentucky, averaging 23 points per game during the streak.
The Roadrunners play on the road next week at Old Dominion and Charlotte.
UTSA notes
UTEP swept two games against UTSA in both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
UTSA split in each of the past two years, winning at home and losing on the road.
All time, UTSA is 4-10 overall against UTEP and 1-7 in El Paso.
The Roadrunners’ one and only victory over the Miners at the Haskins Center came on Nov. 11, 2011.
On that night, UTSA guard Michael Hale III produced 12 points, 3 assists and 3 steals as the Roadrunners won the season opener for both teams, 73-64.
Sophomore guard Giovanni De Nicolao drives and twists a reverse layup off the glass in UTSA’s 65-61 victory over UTEP on Jan. 20.
The West Virginia Mountaineers stayed in the thick of the Big 12 title chase Monday night with a 75-73 victory at Oklahoma.
With the win, 19th-ranked West Virginia improved to 7-4 in conference and remained one game in the loss column behind Kansas and Texas Tech, both at 7-3.
No. 17 Oklahoma failed to hit a potential game-tying shot under the basket in the final seconds and lost its first game at home this season, falling to 6-5 in Big 12 play.
Lamont West led West Virginia with 17 points and center Sagaba Konate dominated down low, producing 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Forward Esa Ahmad also scored 14 for the Mountaineers, including seven points in the final 4:51.
National scoring leader Trae Young of Oklahoma produced a team-high 32 points on 10 of 20 shooting from the field.
Young also hit four three-point shots in the face of a physical West Virginia defense.
But the Mountaineers limited Young, also the national leader in assists, to only one.
West Virginia guard Jevon Carter finished with 10 points, eight assists and six steals.
It was the fifth time this season that Carter has had at least five assists and five steals in the same game.
UIWs Shawn Johnson splits the defense on a drive against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. (Soobum Im / The University of the Incarnate Word)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi rallied in the final eight minutes Saturday afternoon to claim a 56-51 victory over the slumping University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals.
Trailing by three with 8:32 remaining at UIW’s Convocation Center, the Islanders surged behind Joe Kilgore and Deion Rhea down the stretch to win their fourth straight.
Kilgore and Kareem South each scored 11 points apiece for A&M-Corpus Christi (8-12, 5-5 Southland Conference).
UIW (5-15, 0-10) has lost 12 straight, its longest losing streak since it moved up to NCAA Division I and joined the SLC in 2013.
Shawn Johnson and Charles Brown III each produced 14 points for the Cardinals.
Johnson also had nine rebounds and two blocks, two assists and one steal while playing all 40 minutes.
Center Konstantin Kulikov had four blocks and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.
With eight games to play in the regular season, UIW hosts Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday.
UIW forward Charles Brown III takes it strong to the basket against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. (Soobum Im / The University of the Incarnate Word)
UTSA forward Nick Allen hits a jumper off the baseline late in the game, courtesy of a drive into the paint and a slick pass from point guard Giovanni De Nicolao.
The UTSA Roadunners on Saturday soared to their third straight victory over a top-tier team in Conference USA, taking down the second-place Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, 74-63, in front of 1,305 fans at the Convocation Center.
Freshman Jhivvan Jackson scored 22 points to lead the Roadrunners.
UTSA (13-11, 6-5) held Western Kentucky (16-7, 8-2) to 36.1 percent shooting, the worst shooting effort of the year for the Hilltoppers, who had won nine of their last 10.
Only nine days ago, the Roadrunners were blown out 75-51 on the road at first-place Middle Tennessee. It was their fourth loss in five games.
But since then, UTSA notched a victory at Alabama-Birmingham and followed at home this week with wins against Marshall and Western Kentucky.
Those teams are the fourth-, fifth- and second-place teams in the conference, respectively.
To view the upset in another context, Western Kentucky was 46th in the Ratings Percentage Index leading into the game. UTSA was 214th.
“Just shows that we can compete with anyone in this league,” Roadrunners forward Byron Frohnen said.
UTSA forward Byron Frohnen hits a follow shot off a miss from Toby Van Ry in the first half. Frohnen and Keaton Wallace led a UTSA rebounding onslaught with eight boards apiece.
Jackson scored 15 points and UTSA held Western Kentucky to 22.6 percent shooting in taking a 37-25 lead on the Hilltoppers at halftime.
In one of their best halves of the season, the Roadrunners alternated between man and zone defenses and limited the visitors to 7 of 31 shooting from the field.
Western Kentucky entered the game shooting 49.4 percent from the field in 22 games and 48.5 percent in nine conference games.
Emblematic of UTSA’s defensive prowess, Van Ry and guard George Willborn III (35) combine forces to protect the front of the rim on a Western Kentucky possession early in the first half.
Celebrating a victory
After the game, the worst kept secret of the day was confirmed, that UTSA players celebrated in the dressing room and that coach Steve Henson got right in the middle of it.
“Yeah, we had a little celebration,” Frohnen said. “It’s always good to get a big win, especially against one of the best teams in the conference. That just shows that we can compete with anyone in this league.”
From the outset, the Roadrunners just seemed to bring more energy than the Hilltoppers.
“We came out to play and they came out kind of asleep, to be honest,” Frohnen said. “So, definitely, getting on their backs right out of the gate was huge momentum for us.”
In 2015-16, the UTSA program had hit bottom with a 5-27 record, leading to the dismissal of the coaching staff and the hiring of Henson.
In the coach’s first year, the team was better, finishing 14-19 and 8-10 in the conference.
UTSA even won a game at the C-USA tournament, downing Western Kentucky before getting ousted by Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals.
But over the last few weeks, it feels as if the entire program has executed another positive step forward.
“Our guys have practiced so well for three weeks in a row,” Henson said. “To see the progress and get the results, because of the practices, is what you want.
“The guys are figuring some things out. I think we’re getting better, which is very important at this point of the season, especially with young guys.
“You know, freshmen are sometimes hitting the wall. I don’t think our freshmen are doing that. They’re getting better every day. We’re in a good spot right now.”
Freshmen on the rise
Jackson and Wallace, arguably two of the best freshmen in school history, are both hitting their stride.
Jackson has scored 24, 23 and 22 points in his last three games, respectively.
Wallace had a career-high with 11 assists at UAB, and he has followed with double figures in scoring in each of the past two games.
Against Western Kentucky, he produced 11 points, a career-high eight rebounds, four assists and a steal.
UTSA freshman Jhivvan Jackson is greeted with a hug from athletic director Lisa Campos after an 81-77 home victory Thursday over Marshall.
UTSA will have a fourth-straight opportunity to knock off an upper-echelon team in Conference USA with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in town for a 3 p.m. game Saturday at the Convocation Center.
Already, UTSA has won two of three in perhaps the toughest two-week stretch of its schedule.
Last week, the Roadrunners traveled to Middle Tennessee and got hammered, 75-51, by the C-USA’s first-place team.
Two nights later, they played perhaps their best game of the season in an 82-70 victory at Alabama-Birmingham.
The Roadrunners followed it up with an 81-77 victory Thursday night over the Marshall Thundering Herd, improving to 12-11 overall and 5-5 in conference.
“It just tells us we can come out here and beat anybody,” said UTSA freshman guard Jhivvan Jackson, the Roadrunners’ leading scorer.
UTSA coach Steve Henson said second-place Western Kentucky (16-6, 8-1) will be a different challenge than the Herd, who rely on a perimeter shooting attack.
Defending the Hilltoppers will be “a different deal altogether,” he said. “It’ll be a totally different feel. (With) two big guys, they’ll pound that ball inside and be physical.”
Western Kentucky has a balanced attack with two guards and two forwards all averaging in double figures.
But Henson knows UTSA will need to be prepared for the Hilltoppers’ big men, namely Justin Johnson (6-7, 245 pounds) and Kansas transfer Dwight Coleby (6-9, 245).
Defending the post
“Tonight we didn’t have to guard one post up,” Henson said Thursday night. “I take that back. (Marshall guard C.J.) Burks, (on the) first play, posted Jhivvan. But after that, there were no more post ups.
“Saturday there will be post up after post up (with) two of the biggest, strongest guys in the league down their working. They’re good. They’re effective.
“We’ll have to have a little different game plan.”
The Hilltoppers have won nine of their last 10 after beating UTEP on the road Thursday night.
Against the Roadrunners, the Hilltoppers are looking for their sixth straight road win and their fifth straight in C-USA.
But in UTSA, Western Kentucky will encounter a team that is playing much better than it had been only a few weeks ago on the tail end of a 1-4 skid.
The Roadrunners’ home losses to North Texas, Florida International and Florida Atlantic, Henson said, were “very concerning.”
“Last week’s road trip, on paper, was the toughest in the league,” Henson said. “(Middle Tennessee and UAB) those are two good teams.
“The two teams we got in here this week are good teams — top level.
“So, to get a win at UAB was fantastic. To protect home court against another top team (Marshall), those are terrific wins at this point in the season.”
Revamping its style
UTSA has revamped its style in a number of ways since the losing streak, primarily with a change in roles for the dynamic freshman duo of Jackson and Keaton Wallace.
Jackson, who played off the bench through the loss to Florida Atlantic, has started the last four games.
Wallace, a starter through the FAU loss, has been coming off the bench in the last four.
In the wake of the switch, Jackson continues to play at a high level.
He has led UTSA in scoring with 24 points at UAB and with 23 against Marshall.
Wallace has also been effective, passing for a team season-high of 11 assists at UAB.
He sparked the UTSA bench against Marshall with 12 points and five rebounds.
Point guard Giovanni De Nicolao hit four three-point shots in the win at UAB and then followed with another solid outing against Marshall, supplying clutch plays down the stretch.
On paper, it’s a modest win streak.
But two in a row against UAB and Marshall after the earlier struggles is a positive sign for the future.
“(It’s) a real credit to our guys,” Henson said. “You know, the home losses against mid-level teams didn’t discourage us. Didn’t set us back any. We just kept getting better.”
