SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s basketball team (3-4) donned their newly-minted orange uniforms for the first time and rung up a huge second half with strong performances on both ends of the floor to put away the visiting cross-town Incarnate Word Cardinals (3-3) on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center. Paced by five threes for 21 points from Adante' Holiman, the Roadrunners dropped a season-high 57 points in the second half to earn their second home win in three opportunities at the Convo.
A frenetic early pace and UIW showing a long-range shooting gameplan dominated the opening minutes of Saturday’s game, with the teams combining for 21 shots in the first four minutes. After the Roadrunners fell a few steps behind early, forward Chandler Cuthrell gave UTSA its first lead at 6-5 via a free throw, quickly followed by six straight points from the visiting Cardinals – who built up an eight-point advantage off UTSA turnovers and empty possessions.
PJ Carter finally snapped UTSA’s drought and got the Roadrunners moving with a three and Carlton Linguard Jr.’s putback slashed the deficit to a pair at the midpoint of the half. Carter was key again with a baseline jumper that trimmed the difference to 23-22 with seven minutes to go, before Isaiah Wyatt made it back-to-back scoring possessions for the lead at 24-23. The Roadrunners rallied to an eight-point lead off a 13-0 push that stretched nearly six minutes as the half ticked down. The Cardinals refused to lie down and fired back an 8-0 run that pushed them in front over the next two minutes. Linguard’s free throws tied the game at 31-all and Holiman matched UIW’s counter to go into the break at 33-33.
At the half UTSA was shooting just 33 percent to and surrendered nine first-half turnovers, leading directly to 13 UIW points.
Although the Cardinals came out firing after half, UTSA demonstrated patience and Dre Fuller Jr. turned a physical drive to the bucket for the hoop and the harm into the offensive spark for the Roadrunners – launching a 10-0 run that stretched UTSA to its first double-digit advantage at 14:32.
Breaking off a chunk of his game-high 24 points, UIW star Sky Wicks caused fits for the Roadrunners as the half wore on, but the Roadrunners leaned into their hot-shooting opportunity and reached a 13-point lead on consecutive threes from Holiman and Wyatt – cresting a game-high 14 on Linguard’s free throws with 3:47 to go. Though the Cardinals forced a rally, UTSA knocked down 9-of-11 free throws in the final three minutes to secure the 90-80 victory.
The Roadrunners reached a season scoring high after registering a 54.8 shooting percentage in the second half, putting points on the board on 65.8 percent of second-half possessions.
Holiman cut close to his career high from 10 days ago with 21 points on the night, knocking down a career-best 5-of-12 from beyond the arc while shooting .500 overall. The point guard also grabbed a career-high six rebounds and made three assists.
Carter collected a career-high 17 points on 50-percent shooting, while Linguard was 9-of-12 at the line for a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Christian Tucker chipped four more assists toward his AAC-leading total, scoring 11 for his fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game. Tying a season high with 10 points, Wyatt rounded out five players in double-figures, also grabbing a season-high seven boards.
The Roadrunners finished at 43.3-percent shooting and a season-high 10 threes, outrebounding the Cardinals 50-36 on the most boards of the season. With the UTSA win, the Roadrunners are 2-0 in the only two meetings between these programs.
Up Next
The Roadrunners will get a few days off the court but return to action next week at home with a rematch against Lamar on Nov. 30. The LU Cardinals pulled off a 90-82 win over UTSA in Beaumont on the 14th – a game in which Holiman notched a career game of 22 points.
- UTSA -