UTSA guard Marcus Millender scored 21 points to lead the Roadrunners Saturday afternoon against the Wichita State Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The hot-shooting UTSA Roadrunners snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday, knocking down 15 three-point baskets in an 88-75 decision over the Wichita State Shockers for their first victory in the American Athletic Conference under first-year Coach Austin Claunch.
Playing on the back end of a basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center, the Roadrunners raced to a 47-32 halftime lead and never let up in what Claunch described as the team’s best performance of the season. They shot 52.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Guard Marcus Millender tied a season-high with 21 points and made five three-pointers. Also, forward Raekwon Horton had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Damari Monsanto pitched in 17 points and he, too, had five threes.
UTSA coach Austin Claunch picked up his first victory in the American Athletic Conference and vowed there would be more to come. – Photo by Joe Alexander
Six-foot-nine forward Jo Smith defended the basket with four blocks on one end of the floor, and he also contributed 13 points on the other.
With the performance, the Roadrunners earned a measure of redemption for their showing on Tuesday night at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Tulsa rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to win, 82-77, handing UTSA its third straight loss and dropping the team into an 0-2 hole in the AAC race. After manhandling the Shockers, the Roadrunners improved to 7-8 on the season and to 1-2 in conference.
Asked what changed in the days between the Tulsa and Wichita State games, Claunch launched into a story about how athletes sometimes just need to keep working to get things right.
“Ninety percent of me is fired up,” Claunch said. “Then there’s 10 percent, it’s like I feel we should be 2-1 (in the AAC). You know, you play 28 minutes of good basketball — give Tulsa a lot of credit; I’m not going to take anything away from what they did — but the point is, we showed today that, now, we can finish it.
“And so as excited as we are, we’re double as hungry. Because I think now, you know, it just takes time. The team is always giving me a hard time because I’m always giving them metaphors, stories, things like that. We talk about the stone cutter and … you just show up and work every day.
“Eventually, it shows up. Today, I think was a good example of that. We’re just getting started. You know, we got a lot of work to do. Our goal is not to win one conference game. Our goal is to win a lot of conference games. So, you’ll see these guys back in here working tomorrow.”
Raekwon Horton had 19 points and 10 rebounds against Wichita State. He also had five assists and a couple of steals, all in 36 minutes. – Photo by Joe Alexander
Horton talked about how hungry the Roadrunners were to win against the Shockers and what it meant to get the victory for Claunch, who was hired last spring and built the team mostly from scratch after all but one scholarship player from last season entered the transfer portal.
“I love playing for coach,” said Horton, who talked about how Claunch has a way of pumping up players’ confidence.
“Some coaches will tear you down or put you on the bench,” Horton said. “Coach Claunch will build you up. He’ll never tell you to stop shooting. He say, ‘Next one is good. Keep going hard. I got you. I got you.’ ”
For the Shockers, who remained winless through three games in the AAC, guard Xavier Bell led with 23 points, and center Quincy Ballard had 22.
With a little more than three minutes remaining, tempers flared between the teams when Wichita State’s Corey Washington contested a jumper by UTSA’s Primo Spears.
As Spears released his shot, Washington re-directed it into the corner. On his backside, Spears caught it, and then two-handed it in the other direction, hitting Washington on the head with the ball.
It didn’t land hard, but it was hard enough for tempers to flare and for officials to move in to keep the peace.
They sent both teams to their respective benches and went to the monitor to look at the replay. When it was over, Washington was called for a personal foul. In addition, both Spears and Washington were assessed technical fouls.
A technical was also called on the UTSA bench, presumably for something that was said when emotions were running high.
Damari Monsanto produced 17 points in 18 minutes of playing time. As usual, he was deadly from deep, making five of seven, including four of four in the second half. – Photo by Joe Alexander
On the back end of the drama, Xavier Bell sank two free throws for Wichita State, followed by Spears making two for UTSA. The Roadrunners, leading by 86-69 with 3:27 remaining at that point, had the game more or less in the bag.
But Claunch said he was happy that his players stayed composed and finished with the double-digit victory.
“It’s a competitive game,” the coach said. ” … We did a great job keeping our composure. But, these guys love each other. They’re going to defend themselves and defend each other … I thought we did a great job coming out of that huddle and finishing the game, making free throws, not turning it over and milking the clock.
“Really proud of it all around. Obviously, you don’t want to have dust-ups or anything like that. But again, we protect home (court). We protect home, and obviously, we’re going to always have each other’s back. But, on top of that, we did a great job of just being composed.
“That’s what happens with an older team that’s been in this experience, and having guys like (Millender) who’s a great ball handler, having older guys like Rae and Pri (Spears). It’s what it’s all about and that’s how you finish games.”
UTSA shot the ball well from long distance all night. If it wasn’t Millender making five of seven threes in the first half, it was Damari Monsanto hitting four of four from deep in the second.
One of Monsanto’s high-arcing shots splashed, topping off a 7-0 run and giving the Roadrunners their largest lead of the game, 71-49, with 11:29 remaining.
Records
Wichita State 10-6, 0-3
UTSA 7-8, 1-2
Coming up
UTSA at Rice, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Notable
The Roadrunners won both ends of the doubleheader against the Shockers, with the women claiming the first game, 69-51.
Jonnivius Smith, cocking his wrist and preparing to dunk, finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks against the Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander
The UTSA men should get a boost in the NET ratings after beating Wichita State by 13 points. Wichita State, with victories earlier in the season over Power 4 teams Minnesota and Kansas State, entered the game rated at No. 139 in the nation. UTSA entered at No. 281.
Roadrunners guard Primo Spears, who scored a career-high 40 points Wednesday night against Tulsa, had eight points, six assists and a steal against Wichita State.
UTSA forward Jaquan Scott did not play in his second straight game. A team spokesman said later that Scott is “away from the team on a family matter.”
The Rice Owls, who will host the Roadrunners Tuesday night, suffered a tough loss at home on Saturday afternoon. They fell to Temple, 73-70. Temple secured the victory on two Jamal Mashburn free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining. As a result, Rice fell to 11-6 on the season and to 2-2 in the AAC in Rob Lanier’s first season at the school.
High-flying UTSA guard Tai’Reon Joseph finishes off a slam against the Wichita State Shockers. – Photo by Joe Alexander
