By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Burly guard Bradyn Hubbard produced 21 points and eight rebounds Monday night as the Abilene Christian University Wildcats opened the Jacksonville Classic in Florida with a 61-50 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.
Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Roadrunners pulled to within four a few times in the second half before the Wildcats took control down the stretch.
At one point, the Roadrunners went scoreless for more than five minutes.
The Wildcats (4-2) snapped a two-game losing streak while also putting a stop to a two-game winning streak by the Roadrunners (3-3).
UTSA did some things well, holding ACU to 34 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers.
But, in the end, ACU won the game on the boards, outrebounding UTSA by a 44-32 margin, including 19-9 on the offensive glass.
UTSA also hurt itself with sub-par shooting from the field (36.4 percent) and from the free-throw line (55.6 percent). The Roadrunners hit only 15 of 27 on free throws.
Jamir Simpson had 18 points and five rebounds to lead UTSA, which will close out its stay in Florida when it takes on Georgia Southern Tuesday night.
First half
Opening play on Day One in the Jacksonville Classic, the Wildcats out-rebounded the Roadrunners in the first half en route to a 39-26 lead at intermission.
ACU constructed a 22-12 lead on the boards, including 10-2 on the offensive end.
In the first few minutes of the game, the Wildcats built a 14-2 lead. In the last one minute and nine seconds of the half, the Wildcats did it again, outscoring the Roadrunners 9-1.
Christian Alston kicked off the closing surge when he knocked down a three pointer.
After UTSA’s Austin Nunez made one of two free throws, Bradyn Hubbard took it to the rim, hit the shot and drew a foul. He made the freebie with 28 seconds left to boost ACU into a 10-point advantage.
After Joseph Venzant made a steal off UTSA’s Baboucarr Njie, Yaniel Rivera followed with a three pointer with three seconds left for the final points.
ACU knocked down six of 12 from behind the three-point arc in the half.
Records
UTSA 3-3
Abilene Christian 4-2
Coming up
UTSA vs. Georgia Southern, at Jacksonville, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Notable
The loss dropped UTSA’s record to 1-3 against NCAA Division I programs.
While the Roadrunners have registered victories against the sub-NCAA College of Biblical Studies (Tx.) and Southwestern Christian (Okla.), they’ve registered their only D-I victory over Denver. They’ve lost D-I games to SIU Edwardsville, Texas State and now to ACU.
UTSA played annually against Georgia Southern when the two schools were a part of the Trans America Athletic Conference in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
In 1988, the Roadrunners qualified for their first NCAA tournament when they beat the Eagles 76-69 in overtime at Daytona Beach, Fla., to win the TAAC postseason title.