The 15th-ranked Utah State Aggies allowed the UTSA Roadrunners to hang around for a few minutes to start the game.
But they weren’t going to be that generous for too long.
Utah State rolled on a 14-0 run over a four-minute stretch in the first half and never faced another serious challenge in routing UTSA 82-50 Monday night.
In the game played before a raucous crowd of 8,667 in Logan, Utah, Sam Merrill scored 21 points to lead the undefeated Aggies, who improved to 5-0.
The Roadrunners fell to 0-5 on a night when they were out-rebounded 55-36.
UTSA played well defensively in stretches but couldn’t close out possessions, getting beat 38-8 in second-chance points.
An ugly offense and, perhaps an unsettled point guard situation, also contributed to the Roadrunners’ demise. They shot 28.6 percent from the field.
Notable
UTSA is 0-5 for the second season in a row.
Quotable
“Probably the best team we’ve played in my three-plus years here. Great environment. Great opportunity for us. I thought we were ready to go there in the first half. We (knew we) were going to have to play a really, really good ball game. We gave up that (14-0) stretch and in the second half we got whooped.” — UTSA coach Steve Henson, on the team’s radio broadcast.
Records
UTSA 0-5t
Utah State 5-0
Statistically speaking
UTSA stars Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace combined to shoot 11 of 41 from the field. Jackson was 7 of 25.
Coming up
UTSA opens its home schedule Friday night against Wiley College, an NAIA program based in Marshall, Texas.
A three-game home-stand continues against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 30 and against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 3.
The Roadrunners play at Texas State on Dec. 7.