The Cougars stormed back from a 10-point deficit in the second half, and had multiple chance to tie the game with less than a minute remaining.
But UTSA fended off the UH rally for a 68-63 win Saturday night at Hofheinz Pavilion, giving the Cougars their first home loss of the season and snapping their eight-game home winning streak.
The Cougars (6-4) were unable to capitalize on several late opportunities. Guard Zamal Nixon got the game within a point after he hit two free throws to make it 64-63. UTSA guard Devin Gibson drew the intentional foul and made one of two free throws to make it 65-63. On the ensuing possession, Kendrick Washington drew a whistle and missed both free throws.
Roadrunner guard Stephen Franklin made one of two from the charity stripe to make it 66-63, giving the Cougars a final opportunity to knot the game up. After a timeout, Darian Thibodeaux was unable to sink a game-tying 3-pointer.
The Cougars have shown an ability to hang around and win close games, but head coach James Dickey said that there is no on-and-off switch.
“My job is to get the guys ready to play and we were not ready,” Dickey said. “I do not believe you can just all of a sudden show up and at game time and say, ‘OK, I’m going to get ready to play now.’ If you’re not ready, there’s going to be about three things that rear their ugly heads. You’re going to miss easy shots, you’re not going to get to loose balls, and you’re going to be a step slow defensively.”
Maurice McNeil notched a career high in points with 26 and also added 12 rebounds. He was 9-of-20 from the field, leaving him unsatisfied with his performance
“We always start inside-out,” McNeil said. “I just wanted to play hard and be aggressive. My teammates were finding me, but I missed a lot of easy shots. I was looking for the foul on most of the shots I missed instead of going strong. I have to stop looking for the foul and just finish.”
For the second straight game, Adam Brown – the team’s leading scorer – struggled from the field. He hit 4 of 13 shots and was 2-of-4 from three-point range to finish with 10 points.
The Cougars took a brief two-point lead on McNeil’s layup with 9:32 remaining in the first half. The Roadrunners responded with a 11-4 scoring run to take a 27-19 lead. UH closed the gap to six and went into the half trailing 30-24. The Cougars made just 10 of 35 shots in the first half for a dismal shooting percentage of 28.6.
Next on the schedule is a matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi.
