By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Trailing by 20 points with nine minutes remaining, the South Florida Bulls staged a dramatic rally to beat the UTSA Roadrunners 78-73 Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.

The Bulls found themselves down 65-45 with 9:05 remaining when things started to unravel for the Roadrunners.

Guard Jimmie Williams hit two consecutive three-point baskets to start the comeback, and it didn’t end until South Florida had outscored UTSA 33-8 in the last 8:49 of the game.

With the win, the Bulls (13-14, 6-8) snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Roadrunners their season-high fifth straight loss.

The setback may prove costly for the Roadrunners (10-16, 4-10) as they now face the possibility of finishing 12th or 13th in the American Athletic Conference, which would force them to play on opening day of the AAC tournament.

If that is the case, UTSA would need to win five games in five days to win the title.

Such a streak of success seems almost unimaginable at the moment, with the Roadrunners having lost four home games in AAC play since early January after holding leads of nine or more points in the second half.

The Roadrunners’ four-game trail of tears started on Jan. 7 with an 82-77 setback to Tulsa. Their frustrations continued with one-point losses to Tulane on Feb. 5 and to East Carolina on Feb. 8.

UTSA led by 16 with 17 minutes left against Tulsa. In the other two, they suffered excruciating collapses in the final few minutes.

East Carolina pulled it out in the last 48 seconds, forcing a couple of turnovers and claiming an 80-79 victory on a CJ Walker free-throw line jumper with four ticks on the clock to play.

In the latest UTSA heartbreak, Williams, a 6-5 redshirt sophomore from Solon, Ohio, led the charge for South Florida. He scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the last nine minutes.

Capping his outburst, Williams sank an acrobatic runner from 12 feet that tied the game 71-all with 49.6 seconds left.

Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch, addressing the media afterward, expressed frustration at another game that he thought his team should have won.

Once again, his attacking offense became stagnant, tentative and mistake-prone with turnovers, and then his defense, under pressure, failed to make stops at key moments.

Another major factor that helped South Florida was an injury that sidelined senior forward Raekwon Horton, who didn’t play after averaging 17 points and shooting better than 50 percent from the field over the past five games.

“As a head coach, man, I got to find a way to help our guys finish the games,” Claunch said. “You know, that’s our fourth loss, I think, where we’ve had at least a nine-point lead or something at home. Obviously this was our biggest one.

“I haven’t watched it yet (on film). It’s still fresh. But we’ve got to find a way obviously to slow their run at the end of the game and just manufacture a few baskets.”

During Claunch’s session with the media, the 35-year-old, first-year UTSA coach paused the self-analysis for a moment and congratulated the Bulls, who have worked their way back from a real-life tragedy to find hope for success on the court leading into the last few weeks.

In late October, the Bulls were stunned when their head coach, Amir Abdur-Rahim, died after suffering complications from a medical procedure. The coach of the Bulls’ 2023-24 AAC regular-season champions was 43.

“(I want to) touch on Coach Abdur-Rahim and what he’s meant to this league and this basketball community,” Claunch said. “To see them still fighting and playing the way they’re playing, certainly says a lot about the culture that he instilled — not just as a coach but as a man and as a leader.

“So, again, my condolences to their family again and their entire community. We’re thinking about them at UTSA.”

South Florida interim coach Ben Fletcher said outside the visitors’ dressing room that the comeback victory “was huge” for his coaching staff and his players.

“We’re getting closer to March,” he said. “Both teams have been struggling. They’re playing in some really close games. (This) just gives you confidence, especially when you can come on the road and get one against a really good UTSA team.”

The 20-point comeback to victory was the biggest that the Bulls have executed this season.

“You know, our guys needed some confidence,” Fletcher said. “We’d been playing in some close games and we let a few get away that we thought we should have won. So it’s always big to kind of bounce back.”

Fletcher agreed with Claunch’s analysis, that the victory underscored the type of culture that had been established by Abdur-Rahim.

“Absolutely,” Fletcher said. “It’s crazy. The way it happened today, it basically happened like that last year, too. They had gotten up on us a few points in that second half. Very similar. I don’t think it was 20, but they did a really good job.

“They shot the ball well to start the second half and then we went small (with our lineup) kind of the same way (we did tonight).”

The UTSA offense and a few individuals had their moments, for sure. Guard Damari Monsanto scored a game-high 22 points. Monsanto, from Pembroke Pines, Fla., knocked down seven of the Roadrunners’ 15 three-point field goals.

In addition, guard Primo Spears had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists. He also had two steals. Marcus Millender had 11 points, four assists and four steals. Monsanto, Spears and Millender all played 38 minutes.

Tai’Reon Joseph, inserted in the starting lineup when it became known that Horton would need to sit out, also scored 11.

For South Florida, Williams led the way with 16 points on six of nine shooting, including two threes. Jamille Reynolds and Kobe Knox each scored 13 apiece. Guard Brandon Stroud scored 11 and pulled down 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass. He also had four blocks and five steals.

Records

South Florida 13-14, 6-8
UTSA 10-16, 4-10

Coming up

UTSA at East Carolina, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Rice at UTSA, Sunday, March 2, 5 p.m.
Memphis at UTSA, Tuesday, March 4, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, March 9, 3 p.m.

First half

After playing lackluster basketball in the first half last weekend at Tulsa, UTSA came out with a more focused performance against South Florida.

Monsanto knocked down three of UTSA’s eight made three pointers before intermission as the Roadrunners took a 40-29 lead on the Bulls at intermission.

The Roadrunners hit eight of 19 from behind the arc in the half, with Spears and Millender helping out by making two apiece.

By consistently making shots from the perimeter, the Roadrunners hiked the lead to as many as 12 three times before Baboucarr Njie hit a free throw with 26 seconds left to make it 40-27.

South Florida center Jamille Reynolds followed in a shot with three seconds remaining for the final basket of the half. Reynolds led the Bulls with nine points.

For the Roadrunners, Spears scored 10 and Monsanto nine, while Joseph and Millender both had eight.