UTSA have advanced in the WAC Basketball Championships as they managed a 67-49 victory over San Jose State on Tuesday night at the Orleans Arena on Tuesday night.
Jeromie Hill was at his best as he recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Kannon Burrage also managed 20 points in what was a composed performance from the Roadrunners.
UTSA had not won a conference tournament game since the 2011 Southland conference final and came in to this game ranked ninth, the second lowest in the tournament but they managed to stun the Spartans.
UTSA and San Jose State's game from last week was cancelled due to a leaky roof which meant these teams missed a chance to see eachother in action late on in the regular season, making scouting a little more difficult.
UTSA managed to shoot at 50% for the game with an impressive 62.1% as they pulled away from the Spartans in the Second Half and cruised to victory.
The result highlights the turning fourtunes of both teams with San Jose State crashing out of the year with 14th straight win while UTSA returned to form after the blip against Utah State.
UTSA's defense was impressive in the early stages, holding San Jose State scoreless for 7:49 to push their early 12-8 lead in to an impressive 20-10 lead, capped by Burrage's exclamation point of a dunk.
UTSA started the second half very well running out to a 19 point lead at 38-19 as they looked to really push the Spartans out of the game.
After missing 14 straight 3-point attempts San Jose State finally netted one with just under ten minutes to play when Jaleel Williams made one before a three point play got the Spartans back in to the game with an 11 point deficit.
With five minutes left Atlanta cut the gap to ten thanks to two free-throws but that was as good as it got as UTSA advanced to the quarter-finals.
Late on UTSA went 5-for-5 from the field while missing one from the line as they easily finished out the game.
Things don't get any easier for UTSA as they now take on the regular season champions, Louisiana Tech at 8pm CDT on Thursday.
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