UTSA Upsets Sam Houston State, Advances to Semifinals
KATY, Texas ? The No. 6 UTSA men’s basketball team pulled off the upset against No. 3 Sam Houston State, 83-74, Wednesday at the Merrell Center to advance into the semifinal round of the 2009 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament. The Roadrunners will return to action Friday at 6:05 p.m. when they take on No. 2 Nicholls State, who defeated Texas State in an earlier quarterfinal game.
After dropping both of their regular season matchups against the Bearkats (18-12), the Roadrunners (18-12) found out the third time was the charm and did not fall out of the lead in the second half. Sam Houston State never got closer to the lead than two points in the final 20 minutes, and that came early on when just 79 seconds into the half when DeLuis Ramirez scored a layup. Five minutes later, Devin Gibson drove the lane and converted a pair of free throws to make the score, 52-44. The Roadrunners lead hovered between seven and 12 points for the rest of the game, with few exceptions, as Gibson converted 14-of-15 free throws for the game, most coming late in the second half.
Both teams went into halftime locked in a virtual stalemate. UTSA led 34-30 at the break, but never held a lead larger than seven points. The Roadrunners took what would be their final lead of the game at 29-27 with 4:12 remaining in the first half when Gibson drilled a triple from range. Sam Houston State led for a total of only 1:19, all of which came in the opening five minutes.
Gibson, who also had six assists, led all scorers with 25 points while teammate Omar Johnson poured in 20 and Joey Shank and Travis Gabbidon added 14 apiece. Five players scored in double figures for Sam Houston State in the loss, including Preston Brown (13 points), Barkley Falkner (12), Ashton Mitchell (12), Lance Pevehouse (12) and Corey Allmond (11). Mitchell also had a game-high eight assists in defeat.