Wallace scores 31 as UTSA routs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 89-67

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Keaton Wallace. UTSA beat A&M-Corpus Christi 89-67 on Tuesday night at the UTSA Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Hard-driving Keaton Wallace takes it into the paint against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. – photo by Joe Alexander

Junior guard Keaton Wallace connected on a school-record 15 free throws without a miss Tuesday night en route to a season-high 31 points in UTSA’s 89-67 victory over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.

Bouncing back from a Saturday night loss to Prairie View A&M, the Roadrunners placed four men in double figures for the team’s first victory of the season against an NCAA Division I opponent.

UTSA shot a season-high 54.5 percent from the field, improved to 2-6 on the season and won for the second time in three games on a season-opening home stand.

The Islanders fell to 3-5 after rolling into San Antonio on a three-game winning streak. Nolan Bertain led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 18 points. He hit four 3-point shots.

Notable

Wallace’s 15-for-15 effort at the free-throw line highlighted a 23-of-26 team effort. Wallace broke the 26-year-old UTSA record held by guard Afis Olajuwon, who made 14 of 14 at home against Sam Houston State on Jan. 9, 1993.

Quotable

“That’s actually crazy. I didn’t even know I shot that many free throws. But that’s great. I feel great about that. You know, big time.” — Keaton Wallace, on what it means to get the school record.

Coming up

UTSA plays at Texas State on Saturday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. in San Marcos at Strahan Arena.

Wallace’s resurgence

Keaton Wallace entered the game averaging a modest 12.9 points a game on 29.5 percent shooting from the field and 22.8 percent on 3-pointers.

He was 4 of 14 afield and 0 of 8 at the 3-point arc in a 79-72 loss to Prairie View.

The performance capped a mystifying seven-game stretch for Wallace, who emerged as one of the top players in Conference USA last year.

Henson said it was “really good” to see Wallace hit 8 of 12 from the field against the Islanders.

“We’ve been talking about our struggles, really, across the board,” Henson said. “Defensively, we haven’t been good enough. Offensively, the ball has not been going in the hole. Kind of felt like Keaton is a big key to all of this. We know that we need him to get going. We knew he was ready just at any moment to pop it, and so it was really good to see that happen.”

Hellums, Germany shine

Knox Hellums and Jacob Germany each scored 12 points off the bench for the Roadrunners. Hellums, a 6-5 junior transfer from Pepperdine, hit 4 of 4 from the 3-point arc. Germany was 5 of 7 including a couple of slam dunks. Jhivvan Jackson, one of the leading scorers in the nation, had 12 points in only 17 minutes.

First-half recap

Eleven players played and nine scored in the first half Tuesday night as the UTSA Roadrunners took a 41-25 lead against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Slumping junior Keaton Wallace led the way with 16 points. He hit 3 of 3 from the field and 10 of 10 at the free throw line.