SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Karrington Donald hit a running floater with less than a second to play lifting UTSA to a 70-68 win over Louisiana Tech Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
With the score tied at 68-68 after a driving layup by
Raizel Guinto with 17 seconds to play, UTSA (7-18, 2-11 C-USA) inbounded the basketball and eventually got it in the hands of Donald. The UTSA guard drove down the right side of the line and flipped the ball high into the air over the outstretched hands of Tech forward
Grayson Bright.
The ball found the bottom of the night, giving the Roadrunners the upset victory over Tech (14-12, 6-7 C-USA).
Although the last second shot was the game winner, LA Tech head coach
Brooke Stoehr said the loss came down to much more than that one play.
"We did a lot of things wrong today," said Stoehr. "Give UTSA a lot of credit. Their kids came out and competed and made plays. I told our team coming into this game that it didn't matter what their record was. Coaches can say that and players are going to either take that to heart and come out and compete or they won't.
"It shouldn't matter who we are playing or where we are playing. We need to compete mentally and physically better than we did today. I thought the first quarter when we had six turnovers and missed free throws that really set a bad tone for the game."
Tech took a 32-30 lead into the halftime locker room. The Lady Techsters came out strong in the third quarter and pushed the advantage out to 46-34 on a
Kierra Anthony jumper with 4:26 to play in the stanza. However, UTSA answered with a 11-2 run over the next two minutes to close the gap to 48-45 on a three-pointer by Marie Benson, one of three she made on the afternoon.
The Lady Techsters responded. Tech pushed the lead back out to double digits again when Guinto drained a three-pointer with 8:11 to play in the game to make the score 62-51. However, Tech made just two field goals over the final eight minutes of the game while UTSA turned to Benson inside.
Benson's two free throws with 29 seconds to play gave UTSA a 68-66 lead, its first of the second half, setting up the final seconds of play.
Tech saw its four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-3 all-time in games at the Convocation Center. The Lady Techsters committed 20 turnovers in the loss and gave up 14 offensive rebounds on the afternoon.
Anthony led Tech with 26 points while
Grayson Bright added 11 points and 10 rebounds.