By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Gavin Griffiths scored 23 points and San Antonio’s Jordan Mason produced a double double Saturday afternoon as the Temple Owls turned back the UTSA men, 76-57, handing the Roadrunners their seventh straight loss.
The Owls, playing at home in the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, produced runs of 15-2 in the first half and 10-0 after intermission to remain undefeated in the American Conference. It was their sixth straight victory.
Coming out on top in a duel of point guards from San Antonio, Mason (from Clark High School) finished with 15 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. Mason hit five for 10 from the field.
UTSA’s Austin Nunez (from Wagner) had 12 points, three assists and a steal. Nunez shot four for five from the floor and four for four at the free throw line.
Jamir Simpson, Kaidon Rayfield and Dorian Hayes each scored 11 for the Roadrunners, who shot 32 percent from the field.
Records
UTSA 4-10, 0-2
Temple 10-5, 2-0
Coming up
Charlotte at UTSA, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
First half
Mason produced 10 points and five assists as the Owls built a 39-30 halftime lead on the Roadrunners.
Temple surged on a 15-2 run late in the half to break the game open. Forward Babatunde Durodola sparked the burst with two three-point plays.
He spun past UTSA forward Mo Njie, got fouled and hit a free throw with 5:14 remaining to push the Owls into a 32-18 advantage.
UTSA retaliated by scoring eight of the next 11 points, with seven of them coming from freshman guard Dorian Hayes.
Later on, with less than a minute remaining, Nunez executed a cross-over dribble to free himself for a driving layup, and UTSA had pulled to within 37-30.
On the other end, Mason finished the scoring for the half on a drive to the bucket and a layup.
Hayes led the Roadrunners in the half with nine points on two of five shooting. With the performance he broke out of a slump in which he shot three of 24 from the field in his last three games.
Notable
Temple played without Derrion Ford, the team’s leading scorer. UTSA was without forward Macaleab Rich, who suffered a groin injury in a loss at Florida Atlantic on New Year’s Eve.
UTSA has lost seven in a row, the longest skid in Austin Claunch’s two years as coach. The Roadrunners haven’t won since it defeated Georgia Southern on Nov. 25 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Two of the losses have been by 40 points more more, including 97-55 at Alabama and 110-70 at Florida Atlantic on Wednesday. UTSA’s opponents in the skid were 75-24 coming into the weekend.