Men’s basketball: UTSA outmatched by MTSU, drops 10th straight
February 7, 2023
MURFREESBORO – The last place UTSA Roadrunners took on the MTSU Blue Raiders on the road, where UTSA suffered a demoralizing defeat 84-60. With this loss, UTSA’s record on the season drops to 7-18 and 1-13 in conference play. The Roadrunners can’t seem to get things right as they lose their 10th straight game.
It was a tough scoring night for the ’Runners, as not a single player scored over 10 points. Guard Japhet Medor and forward Lamin Sabally tied for the team lead in points with 8 each. UTSA continued to struggle from three as the team shot only 16% from beyond the arc. The team kept it close for a half, but the MTSU offense exploded in the second half with a lead as big as 30 points. MTSU scored nearly double the number of points as UTSA in the second half, never letting them get close.
UTSA started the game out strong going on a 6-0 run thanks to contributions from Japhet Medor and DJ Richards. The Roadrunners battled and kept it close throughout the first half despite starting the half 1-8 from the 3pt line and turning the ball over 11 times. They finished out the half only down six points and hoped to close the gap in the second half to escape with the victory. Unfortunately for our ’Runners, it was all downhill from there.
In the second half, leading scorer Japhet Medor went scoreless as the Blue Raider defense shut him down completely. Guard John Buggs III tried to keep UTSA in the game, scoring 7 second-half points, but his effort was deemed fruitless as the UTSA defense failed to stop MTSU from pouring it on. A key reason for the defeat was the Roadrunners’ inability to stop MTSU from getting offensive rebounds; they finished with 20, 8 more than UTSA.
With what is turning out to be an extremely disappointing season for the Roadrunners, they will look to try and scrape together a win vs. UTEP next Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center.