UTSA men’s basketball fell to East Carolina University 80-79 Saturday at the Convocation Center.
Losing the game by one point, the Roadrunners (10-13, 4-7 AAC) held onto their lead before losing it with four seconds left to a jump ball from Pirates’ (13-11, 5-6 AAC) guard C.J. Walker. Personal fouls and errors plagued UTSA as they surrendered 21 to East Carolina’s nine. The Pirates rebounded aggressively throughout the game to get past the Roadrunners, keeping the score tight.
“We gotta finish games better. We gotta value the ball there at the end and step up and make one more play,” coach Austin Claunch said. “In this league, it comes down to one point, one play, and we gotta be better in those situations.”
With 32 seconds left in the first period, UTSA freshman guard Baboucarr Njie stole the ball from Pirates’ guard Cam Hayes after a missed layup, and delivered a dunk, propelling the ‘Runners’ to a 40-33 lead over East Carolina.
With one minute remaining in the second half, sophomore guard Marcus Millender drained a three-pointer after a defensive rebound, inching UTSA further ahead 79-75.
“I thought we played well, especially in the first half. In the second half, our defense dropped a little bit. We fouled a little too much. They’re a really physical team. They played well enough to win and we just gotta make a couple more plays at the end,” Claunch said.
Pirates guard Jordan Riley broke a 57-57 tie with a free throw, putting East Carolina ahead 59-57 early in the second half. However, Millender responded by tying the game at 63-63, scoring with a layup, free throw and three-pointer.
The first two points of the game were scored by Riley from free throws after a personal foul from ‘Runners’ junior forward David Hermes. Senior forward Raekwon Horton, who led UTSA with 11 points early in the game, tied the score at 2-2 with a driving layup following a defensive rebound.
“I thought we were driving it with some pace. It kind of just was what it was. C.J. Walker is someone that does get fouled a lot. They certainly were driving it, but I thought we were driving it with some pace,” Claunch said.
Millender played a key role for the Roadrunners, scoring 21 of their 79 points, surpassing his season average of 13.2. In his first game back after missing the previous one, senior guard Primo Spears added 13 points to the total.
The Roadrunner’s largest lead of the game came in the first period, as they led by nine going into the first half, along with a scoring run of 14 points.
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