By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Guard Primo Spears exploded for 15 of his season-high 29 points in the last three minutes Wednesday as the UTSA Roadrunners rallied from a late 14-point deficit to beat the Merrimack College Warriors, 76-74, in a neutral site game at Troy, Ala.
“A huge win,” Roadrunners coach Austin Claunch said later. UTSA needed 20-4 runs at the start of the game and at the end to claim its first victory of the season against an NCAA Division I opponent.
The Warriors didn’t flinch when they fell behind early, executing a rally that pushed them, ultimately, into a 70-56 lead with 3:31 remaining.
After that, UTSA stepped up the defense, and Spears took over on the other end. In a remarkable two-minute sequence, the Florida State transfer hit a 3-pointer, scored on a traditional three-point play and then rained in two more triples.
Spears’ last three in the outburst trimmed the Warriors’ lead to 73-68 with 1:19 remaining.
From there, UTSA applied a full-court press. Walk-on freshman guard Baboucarr Njie, in his first game for the Roadrunners, responded by forcing a turnover and hitting a free throw. After another Merrimack turnover, UTSA point guard Marcus Millender followed with a 3-point bucket of his own out of the corner.
When Millender’s shot went down, the Roadrunners had pulled to within one, trailing 73-72. On the other end, the Warriors missed two free throws, which set up the final chaotic 40 seconds of the game.
First, Spears dribbled through traffic and threw in a runner to give the Roadrunners the lead. He was fouled on the play and went to the free throw line to knock it down with 25 seconds left, giving UTSA a two-point edge. On the other end, the Warriors misfired from three.
UTSA’s Jonnivius Smith, who dominated the defensive glass all day, rebounded and was fouled. He went to the line and missed his first free throw but made the second for a 76-73 edge. Fouling immediately on the inbounds, the Roadrunners put Adam Clark on the line with four seconds remaining.
He made the first one and missed the second.
Spears rebounded, drew a foul and went to the line. But he missed both with 2.4 seconds left, giving Merrimack one last chance. With 94 feet to travel, the Warriors inbounded to Clark, who tried to race it up for a game-winning attempt. But he lost the handle and couldn’t get off a shot.
Smith, a transfer from Buffalo, finished the game with 11 points and 20 rebounds. Spears hit 11 of 22 shots from the field and five of nine from 3-point distance, For Spears, it was his first big moment with the Roadrunners.
The Florida State transfer entered the game having scored 27, 20, 15 and 20 in UTSA’s first four games. Regardless, UTSA had lost lost three straight since an opening-night victory over Division III Trinity, and the team had dropped three in a row to Division I schools, all by double-digit margins.
The Roadrunners needed a Division I victory in the worst way, and they got it courtesy of Spears, who scored 17 in the last four minutes. Clark finished with 28 points for the Warriors, who lost their sixth straight.
Told on the team’s radio broadcast that his team had outscored Merrimack 20-4 in the final three minutes, Claunch said, “Is that what it was?
“Listen,” he added, “that was an interesting two hours, or however long it was. We obviously came out really ready to go and kind of jumped on them … (But) we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”
Claunch lamented the 20-4 UTSA lead at the start of the game that vanished with sloppy play and poor execution on both ends.
The Warriors’ zone defense had something to do with it, but, still, by the middle of the second half, the Roadrunners seemed a little bit lost.
With UTSA going through a seven-minute drought without a field goal, Merrimack’s Clark seemed to have the game on a string, dribbling through traffic and scoring almost at will. His bucket inside with 3:31 remaining lifted the Warriors into a 70-56 advantage.
Spears said the UTSA defense rose to the challenge at the end.
“We talk about getting kills, getting stops three times in a row,” Spears told broadcaster Andy Everett, “and in the last three minutes I thought we did a hell of a job with that.”
Given the opportunities to make something happen, the Roadrunners’ offense came to life.
“We have some incredibly talented people in that locker room on offensive end,” Spears said. “If we get in transition, if we get to run, we play our best basketball … Once we got downhill … and the late got more open, we were able to attack the rim.”
Claunch singled out the effort of Njie, the younger brother of Roadrunners center Mo Mjie.
“I thought Bob Njie, the true freshman, came in and gave us a huge spark,” the coach said. “Again, you just keep playing. It’s stuff you drill in practice and you emphasize. But until your guys see it (in a game) … this is a huge win.”
Records
UTSA 2-3
Merrimack 1-6
Coming up
Houston Christian at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.
First half
Smith forced a turnover and drove the length of the floor to hit a layup in the last few minutes as the UTSA Roadrunners took a 37-36 lead on the Merrimack Warriors.
Coming off the bench, Smith led the Roadrunners in the half with eight points and 11 rebounds. Three of his boards were snared off the offensive glass. Damari Monsanto also had eight points, hitting a couple of threes to boost his total.
For Merrimack, Clark scored 12 in the half and Devon Savage eight.
Forcing turnovers and running efficient offense in a near empty gymnasium, the Roadrunners raced to a 16-point lead in the first six and a half minutes. UTSA held a 20-4 lead when Naz Mahmoud hit a three.
In response, Merrimack surged on a 27-11 run to tie the game. A driving layup by Bryan Etumnu knotted the score at 31-all with five minutes remaining.
Notable
The game was being played at Troy, Ala., the home of the Sun Belt Conference’s Troy Trojans. It was UTSA’s second and final game in the Trojan Turkey Tipoff. Both UTSA and Merrimack entered the game on losing streaks. UTSA had lost three in a row, while Merrimack had dropped five straight.
Jonnivius Smith pulled down 20 rebounds, five shy of the UTSA school record, to become one of only three players in UTSA history with 20 or more.
Lennell Moore holds the record with 25, establishing the mark on Jan. 5, 1987 against the Centenary Gentlemen in Shreveport, La. Clarence McGee had 20 for the Roadrunners on Feb. 27, 1988 at home against the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys.
For Smith, it may be a game he remembers for awhile. A native of Selma, Ala., he pulled down his career-high in a game played in his home state.
Playing for the University of Buffalo the past two seasons, he had his previous high game of 19 boards on Nov. 6, 2023, at home in Buffalo, against Farleigh Dickinson.
UTSA freshman guard Baboucarr Njie, the younger brother of UTSA center Mo Njie, made his UTSA debut by substituting into the game with a little less than 13 minutes remaining in the half. Baboucarr Njie, a walk-on, finished with five points and four rebounds.
Not available to play were forward Jaquan Scott and guards Paul Smith and Tai’Reon Joseph. Scott and Smith are nursing injuries. Joseph is ineligible.