By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Boosted by 27 points from Jalen Rucker, the Army Black Knights held on to win in the final minute Sunday afternoon, snapping the UTSA Roadrunners’ three-game winning streak, 78-75, in non-conference play at West Point, N.Y.

“Give them a ton of credit,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said on the team’s radio broadcast. “Jalen Rucker’s obviously a heck of a player and played well … Just not our best effort today.”

At the end, the Roadrunners threw a scare into the Black Knights, who led by 15 early in the second half.

For UTSA, Primo Spears scored on a drive off an assist from Raekwon Horton with 36.6 seconds left. The bucket trimmed Army’s lead to four.

Trying to advance the ball, the Black Knights turned it over, but the Roadrunners also committed an error, throwing it away themselves.

From there, the game turned essentially into a tactical battle of free-throw shooters. Ryan Curry hit two for the Black Knights, and then Spears knocked down a pair for the Roadrunners with 14.3 seconds left.

After Curry hit another two, Army had a 78-72 lead with 13 seconds to go. But the game was hardly secure, and UTSA’s Tai’Reon Joseph made it interesting, knocking down a three from the corner.

Up 78-75 at that point, Army inbounded to Curry, its best free-throw shooter. But he missed the front end of a one and one with 4.9 seconds left, giving the Roadrunners another shot.

Marcus Millender advanced the ball full court on the dribble and positioned himself for an open look to tie, only to see his shot glance off the side of the rim.

Records

UTSA 6-6
Army 6-6

Coming up

x-UTSA at Tulane, Jan. 4, 5 p.m.
x-American Athletic Conference opener

Individuals

UTSA – Primo Spears had 22 points and nine rebounds. Tai’Reon Joseph added 16 off the bench. Raekwon Horton contributed 15 and seven boards.

Army – Jalen Rucker scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. He knocked down five 3-pointers. Ryan Curry had 15 points and AJ Allenspach 12.

Notable

UTSA was missing two big men, with starting center Mo Njie and forward Jaquan Scott not playing. Scott has been away from the team for a few weeks and has missed four games in a row.

Njie has played in 10 games, including UTSA’s two recent wins over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and one over the non-Division I Southwestern Adventist Knights. The win over Southwestern Adventist came on Dec. 19, the Roadrunners’ last game before the break.