Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO - Lamar was unable to hold off a late UTSA rally in falling to the Roadrunners 79-72 at the UTSA Convocation Center Saturday night.
Ashton Hall scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Anthony Miles continued his strong play at the point guard spot with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Coy Custer chipped in with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the second-highest total of his career.
Lamar (15-13, 6-8 SLC) shot 46 percent from the floor and was 10-of-14 from the foul line. The Cardinals controlled the boards 38-29 and outscored the Roadrunners 32-24 in the paint. Lamar falls into a tie for seventh place with Texas State in the SLC standings.
UTSA (17-10, 8-6 SLC) was led by Devin Gibson's 17 points. He was one of the three Roadrunners to make two 3-pointers. They finished with nine in the game.
Lamar made its first seven shots and nine of its first 11 in racing out to a 19-11 lead with 12:58 to play in the first half. UTSA benefitted from Lamar's shooting woes over the next four minutes as the Cardinals missed their next six shots. The Roadrunners went on a 14-2 run to take a 25-21 lead with 8:15 left.
The Cardinals rallied to tie the game at 30 on a Coy Custer free throw and again at 32 on a pair of Hall free throws with 3:21 to play. UTSA got a 3-pointer and a two free throw s from Leslie Jackson to push the margin to 37-32, but Lamar cut it to one on a Jay Brown dunk and two Miles freebies. Gibson made a floater in the final seconds to send the teams into the locker rooms with UTSA holding a 39-36 advantage.
UTSA benefitted from five 3-pointers and shot 46 percent while Lamar shot 43 percent. The Cards held a 19-13 edge on the glass in the first period.
Lamar cut the UTSA edge to 42-41 in the first two minutes and then went on an 11-0 run capped by a Miles 3-pointer and a Brown layup to lead 52-42 with 14:41 remaining. The Cardinals defense clamped down during the run and held the Roadrunners to five missed shots and two offensive fouls.
UTSA closed the margin to 54-52 with 11:21 and eventually tied it on a Morris Smith 3-pointer, and took a 60-58 lead on a Josh Bonney fast-break dunk with 7:54. After stretching the lead to 64-58, Lamar rallied again and got as close as 71-67 on a pair of McThay free throws with 3:03 remaining but didn't score again until a Custer layup made it 73-69 with less than 30 seconds to play.
Lamar will travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday. Tip-off at the American Bank Center is at 7:00 p.m.
