By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Boosted by the nation’s fourth-leading scorer and winners of two straight games, the UTSA Roadrunners will take on the Saint Mary’s Gaels in Moraga, Calif., tonight in men’s college basketball.

Tipoff is at 9 p.m. in a game that will be aired on ESPN+.

UTSA has won two straight for the first time this season, with a neutral-site victory against the Merrimack College Warriors and a win at home against Houston Christian Huskies.

Guard Primo Spears led the Roadrunners in both games by averaging 30 points. Spears, who scored a season-high 31 against the Huskies on Saturday in San Antonio, is fourth in scoring in NCAA Division I with 23.7 points per game.

After taking down Houston Christian 78-71, first-year UTSA coach Austin Claunch made it clear that the Roadrunners remained a work in progress and that they’d need improvement to compete against two national brands this week — the Gaels tonight and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Saint Mary’s, a rival to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference, is one of the premier mid-major programs in the nation. Coach Randy Bennett is in his 24th season at the school and has won 540 games, taking the Gaels to 10 NCAA tournaments along the way.

Receiving votes in both the AP coaches Top 25 polls, the Gaels opened the season with seven straight victories before losing to Arizona State Friday at Palm Desert, Calif.

Records

UTSA 3-3
Saint Mary’s 7-1

Coming up

UTSA at Saint Mary’s, Calif., tonight at 9.
UTSA at Arkansas, Saturday at 1 p.m.

Notable

The NCAA released its official NET rankings this week, and on Tuesday morning, Saint Mary’s was 24th among 364 Division I teams, while UTSA was 295th.

Lithuanian-born Augustas Marciulionis, the Gaels’ leading scorer and the Player of the Year in the WCC last season, is the son of Naismith and FIBA Hall of Fame player Sarunas Marciulionis. A 6-4 guard, Augustas Marciulionis averages 14 points and 5.5 assists to lead Saint Mary’s in both categories.

Sarunas Marciulionis won three Olympic medals, including a gold in 1988 for the Soviet Union, and bronzes in 1992 and 1996 for Lithuania. He played seven years in the NBA, notably in 1991 helping the seventh-seeded Golden State Warriors upset the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs in a first-round playoff series.

Former Spurs players Patty Mills and Jock Landale played at Saint Mary’s.