By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Guard Tai’Reon Joseph poured in 28 points, and the UTSA Roadrunners claimed their first road victory of the season by holding off the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 95-85 Sunday afternoon.
After the Roadrunners defeated the Hawks 80-76 on Friday night in San Antonio, the second game between the teams in three days started to look like a blowout in the second half, with UTSA building a 17-point lead in Grand Forks, N.D.
In the end, though, the Hawks battled from behind and pulled within three with 1:28 remaining.
Down the stretch, UTSA guard Marcus Millender scored on a driving layup off a set play. After that, Damari Monsanto, Raekwon Horton and Joseph, a transfer from Southern University playing in only his third game at UTSA, hit two free throws apiece to secure the 2-0 sweep of the Hawks.
The story of the day centered on Joseph, who had to sit out the first seven games of the season to regain his eligibility. Playing in his first two, he showed off elite defensive skills but scored only six points at Arkansas and six more Friday at home against North Dakota.
But because of an errant jump shot, he hit only four of 14 from the field in the two games combined. On Sunday, coming off the bench for UTSA at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, Joseph started to round into the form that made him the leading scorer last year in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
He hit eight of 11 from the field and six of eight from the 3-point arc. Joseph also hit six of seven at the line as UTSA, the third-best free-throw shooting team in the nation, knocked down 22 of 24 for 91.7 percent.
Afterward, Joseph told the UTSA radio broadcast that vocal support from his coaches and teammates helped him stay confident with his offensive game.
“I just got back (in the lineup), and they told me, ‘Shot (is) going (to) fall. Keep shooting,’ ” Joseph said. “They kept giving me the ball, and I just kept taking shots, and they started falling.”
In an interview with broadcaster Andy Everett, Joseph said coaches told him during the game to drive the ball if the defense kept pressuring him at the 3-point line. He did just that with a drive and a jam that lifted the Roadrunners into an 80-66 lead with 4:36 left.
“Coach telling me, ‘Hey, (if) they flying out there … you can go get you a dunk. Next play, I got the dunk,” he said.
The Roadrunners’ offense was at its best, as they hit 52 percent from the field for the game and 63 percent at the 3-point arc. From the arc, they made 15 of its shots on 24 attempts. Moving the ball well, the Roadrunners had 29 field goals on 16 assists.
“It’s just sharing the ball,” Joseph said. “Like coach said, when you share the ball, we all going to have fun and we all going to win.”
Guard Primo Spears scored 16 points and Damari Monsanto 15 for the Roadrunners. Millender had 11 points and seven assists, while Horton contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Guard Treysen Eaglestaff led North Dakota with 24 points, including 13 in the second half. Dariyus Woodson added 23. Combined, the two of them made nine three pointers. For the Fighting Hawks, who play in the Summit League, it was their third game in five days in three different cities.
On their sojourn, they traveled to Orem, Utah, last Tuesday and lost to Utah Valley on Wednesday night. Afterward, they flew to San Antonio on Thursday and lost to UTSA Friday night in the makeup of a game that had been re-scheduled from a Nov. 9 postponement.
First half
The Roadrunners shot 50 percent from the field and made seven 3-pointers in the first half en route to a 39-34 lead against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Horton and Primo Spears hit from beyond the arc in the final 61 seconds in a late 6-1 run for UTSA.
Records
UTSA 5-5
North Dakota 4-8
Coming up
Southwestern Adventist at UTSA, Thursday, noon
Notable
The Roadrunners were looking a little lost after starting the season with a 1-3 record, including three straight losses by double figures.
Since then, they’ve won four of their last six, with the only two losses coming on the road at Saint Mary’s and Arkansas, both of them NCAA tournament contenders. After they play host to Southwestern Adventist — a non-Division I private school from Keene, in the Fort Worth area — they’ll have a break before they travel to meet Army on Dec. 29.
Conference play starts on Jan. 4 at Tulane.
UTSA forward David Hermes played for the first time since a Nov. 25 game against Troy. He scored four points and had a blocked shot in four minutes. Born in Syria, Hermes is a 6-10 forward from Stockholm, Sweden. He attended high school in Florida and played in junior college at Indian Hills Community College.
Forward Jaquan Scott missed his second game in a row. After Friday’s game in San Antonio, UTSA coach Austin Claunch said Scott “isn’t with us right now.” He said that there’s no timetable for his return.
UTSA will host a basketball doubleheader on Thursday at the Convocation Center. After the men host Southwest Adventist, the women will take on the UT Arlington Mavericks at 4 p.m.