By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Temple Owls shrugged off a shaky start and rallied behind talented guards Derrian Ford and Jordan Mason for a 70-64 road victory Saturday afternoon, handing the UTSA men their 13th consecutive loss.

With the win, Temple improved its record to 13-7 overall and 5-2 in the American Conference, all while prolonging UTSA’s school-record losing streak. The Owls are 2-0 against the Roadrunners this season after claiming a 76-57 victory on Jan. 3 in Philadelphia.

The Roadrunners, meanwhile, fell to 4-16 and 0-8 despite a mega-performance from forward Baboucarr Njie. The Ohio native, who joined the UTSA program in the summer of 2024 as a walk on, produced career-high 25 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.

It was the second 20-plus points scoring effort in the last four games from the 6-foot-6 sophomore from Dayton, who has emerged as one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal season.

Njie started fast and led the Roadrunners to an early 10-point lead. His driving layup into traffic with 11:12 left in the half boosted UTSA into a 23-13 advantage against one of the top teams in the American.

After that, Temple took charge of the game, pulling to within two at halftime and then mounting a charge in the second half that yielded a 12-point lead. Not backing down, UTSA made another push and pulled to within two.

From there, though, Temple manufactured an 11-4 run over the next four minutes to secure the victory. Mason, who played in high school at Clark, about 10 minutes away from UTSA, hit five of seven free throws in the stretch.

His two straight at the line with 41 seconds left essentially put the game away, giving the Owls a nine-point cushion.

“It came down to some late clock execution, and they made more shots and got to the line at a better rate than we did at the end of the game,” Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch told Andy Everett on the team’s radio broadcast.

Claunch applauded Ford and Mason for their play, especially in late-clock situations.

“Veteran guards,” the coach said. “They’ve played a lot of basketball. They do a great job. I think (coach) Adam (Fisher) is doing a great job. That’s why they’re where they are (in the standings).”

Ford, a former high school player of the year in Arkansas, finished with 21 points on seven of 11 shooting from the field. He scored 12 in the second half.

Mason, who has played previously at Texas State and the University of Illinois-Chicago, added 18 points.

He erupted for 14 in the second half. Not to be outdone, Temple guard Aiden Tobiason hit two shots down the stretch and produced 15 points.

The Roadrunners had double-figure scoring performances from Jamir Simpson (17 points), Austin Nunez (13) and Brent Moss (12 points and 12 rebounds). On the other hand, five UTSA players went scoreless.

Records

UTSA 4-16, 0-8
Temple 13-7, 5-2

Coming up

UAB at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

Mississippi Valley State has lost 18 in a row for the longest losing streak in NCAA Division I this season. UTSA and Air Force are tied for second with 13 straight. The Falcons, from the Mountain West Conference, lost 96-54 at Boise State later Saturday afternoon.

UTSA guard Dorian Hayes, listed in the pregame availability report as questionable to play, went scoreless on 0 for 3 shooting from the field in 26 minutes off the bench.

Temple forward Gavin Griffiths, who scored 23 in a victory over UTSA in Philadelphia on Jan. 3, had a tough day shooting the ball. The Nebraska transfer finished with four points in the rematch, hitting only 1 of 7 from the floor.

San Antonio Spurs guards De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper attended the game.

The Temple-UTSA game in San Antonio originally was scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday. It was pushed back to noon in hopes that Temple could travel and make it back to Philadelphia ahead of the winter storm.

First half

Led by Njie, the UTSA Roadrunners men played their best half of basketball in months, pushing out to a big early lead and then holding off the Temple Owls late for a 33-31 advantage at intermission.

Njie, a force on both ends of the floor, scored 14 points while also pulling down four rebounds and blocking three shots. In his offensive game, Njie made sure to take the ball inside, hitting six of 11 from the field.

Brent Moss also emerged as a key player with eight points, eight rebounds and a couple of steals, while Jamir Simpson scored eight points on four of eight shooting.

For Temple, Derrian Ford scored nine points and pulled down five rebounds.