March 4, 2005

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Texas-San Antonio's Justin Harbert scored 19 points, knocking down 5-of-9 three-pointers Friday as the Roadrunners defeated Texas State 81-76 and earned a first-round home game to start next week's O'Reilly Auto Parts Southland Conference Tournament.

UTSA, now 15-12 and 10-6 in the Southland Conference, will play host to Lamar Tuesday in a first-round game. Texas State, 14-3 and 8-8, fell to the No. 7 seed in the tournament. The Bobcats will play the winner of Saturday's final SLC regular-season game between Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston State.

Friday in Strahan Coliseum, UTSA overcame a 42-37 halftime deficit and built as much as a nine-point advantage in the second half.

David President drilled a three-pointer, and after a missed three at the other end, Anthony Fuqua scored on a layin to give the Roadrunners a 73-64 lead. The Bobcats would get back in the game with an 8-0 run capped by a Lance Burroughs' three-pointer with 2:50 to play, cutting UTSA's lead to 73-72.

Burroughs would block UTSA's next shot, a driving layup by Raphael Posey, but John Millsap came down with the offensive board and a personal foul sent President to the line for two free throws to give the Roadrunners a 75-72 lead with 2:13 to play.

After back-to-back turnovers by the Bobcats, Harbert made two more free throws with 49 seconds to play and the Roadrunners led 77-72.

Texas-San Antonio scored 24 points off turnovers and had 15, second-chance points in the game.

Fuqua added 16 points and blocked three shots while Andre Owens added 13 for the Roadrunners. In their final game in Strahan Coliseum, Texas State seniors Anthony Dill scored 17 points while Josh Naylor finished with 15.l The `Cats third senior, Zach Allison finished a point shy of a double-double, scoring nine points to go with 10 rebounds.

Burroughs finished with a career-high 11 points and four rebounds while Markee White also came off the bench to score a career-high 16 for the Bobcats.

Texas State fell behind by as many as 12 points, 33-21 with 7:46 to play in the first half before finishing the half with a 21-4 run to lead at the break.

White started the run by grabbing a defensive board then hitting a three-pointer at the other end. The `Cats scored the final 12 points of the period with Burrough's three-pointer at the 1:26 mark breaking a 37-37 tie. Dill added a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining in the period.