By Jerry Briggs
Special for the JB Replay
The embattled UTSA Roadrunners opened with some intensity and stayed with the San Jose State Spartans for the first 14 minutes.
But in the season opener for both teams on Monday afternoon in California, the Spartans closed with a flourish to open an 18-point lead at the intermission, en route to a 95-74 victory at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
UTSA played without head coach Austin Claunch, who was suspended last week after an arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Nick Bowman is the acting head coach while the university reviews Claunch’s status.
Building the lead to as many as 27 points eight minutes into the second half, the Spartans cruised the rest of the way.
Guards Mekhi Mason and Joey Chammaa, both newcomers, led a San Jose State offense that shot 59 percent from the field.
Mason, a 6-4 guard who played last year at Wake Forest, knocked down five 3-point baskets and scored 28 points. The 5-foot-11 Chammaa, a South Alabama transfer, scored 27.
Forward Robert Vaihola, in his return to the team after playing two years at Minnesota, produced a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Spartans had their way on the boards, out-rebounding the Roadrunners, 43-22
For UTSA, transfers Preston Turner from Eastern Illinois and Shey Eberwein (South Dakota) led the team with 15 points each. Isaiah Coleman added 12, while KJ Tenner had 11.
Bowman, working as a head coach for the first time in his career, told Andy Everett on the team’s radio broadcast that the Roadrunners allowed missed shots in the first half to affect their performance.
“We let it affect our attitude, our defense and we just spent too much time in the first half in defensive transition,” he said. “Shots didn’t go in (for) the first time. Preseason we hadn’t dealt with that sort of adversity where we hadn’t made more shots than the other team in the first half. That affected us.”
The Roadrunners shot 29 percent before intermission and 42 percent for the game. From 3-point distance, they started slowly and finished 12 of 34 from behind the stripe.
In the first half, UTSA had multiple good looks from distance, only to see the ball spin in and out of the rim. The Roadrunners finished the half 4 for 18 from deep.
First half
San Jose State shot 53 percent from the field and raced to a 45-27 halftime lead.
Mason scored seven of his 17 first-half points in the last six minutes as the Spartans hit the Roadrunners with a 17-2 run.
Coleman scored nine in the half for the Roadrunners, who were held to 33 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent from three.
UTSA started the game with Tenner at point guard, with Isaiah Watts, JJ Kelly and Turner on the wings. Chinedum Okpukpara started in the post.
Records
UTSA 0-1
San Jose State 1-0
Coming up
VMI at UTSA, Saturday, 4 p.m.
Notable
Twelve UTSA players made the box score, with the 6-foot KJ Tenner leading in minutes played with 31. Isaiah Watts logged 28 minutes and freshman walk on Jayson Peterson 22.
Tenner, a former prep scoring champion in the city of Memphis, connected on five of nine shots and passed for six assists, but he finished -18 in the plus-minus column.
For Watts, the son of former University of Washington star Donald Watts, it was his UTSA debut after transferring in from Maryland of the Big Ten. Previously, he played two years at Washington State.
The grandson of former NBA star Slick Watts hit the first shot of the game, a three, but he finished 2 for 11 from the field and 2 for 8 from distance.
Peterson is the son of former NFL linebacker Julian Peterson. Jayson Peterson, a 6-8 walk on from Brandywine, Md., had four points, a rebound and a steal.
He played the extended minutes with 6-foot-9, 265-pound Ashton Smith on the sidelines, not ready to play yet following 11 months of rehabilitation from Achilles surgery.
Shey Eberwein played well, hitting five for five from the field, including two for two from distance, while passing for four assists. Eberwein, from The Woodlands, played 19 minutes.
Six-foot guard Josiah LeGree came off the bench and showed good instincts in guarding the ball. He had seven points, two assists and four turnovers in 15 minutes.