SAN ANTONIO _ The short-handed University of Central Arkansas Bears gave the UTSA Roadrunners all they had Wednesday night before falling 70-58 in Southland Conference action at the Convocation Center.
The Bears, with only nine players dressed out, lost another, junior guard Dewan Clayborn, early in the first half when he was ejected for an inadvertent elbow that sent UTSA’s leading scorer Devin Gibson out of the game with a cut over his left eye. The remaining eight Bears cut a big early deficit to just five points at halftime. But the Roadrunners (15-13, 8-7) shot 48 percent in the second half to win their final home game of the season.
“Our guys really fought hard, they competed and gave ourselves an opportunity to win a basketball game,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “I couldn’t ask for much more as far as what our guys put forth in effort and trying to find a way to win.
“There were other things we could have done better, free throws and three-point shooting, but I thought with the effort, we had a great opportunity to pull out a victory.’
The Bears, down 11-2 to start the game, did not make their first field goal for seven minutes. But they fought back and got back in it despite shooting just 27.6 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from the free-throw line. UCA was 0 for 9 from three-point range in the first half and 11 of 24 from the line, but outrebounded UTSA 25-19.
The Roadrunners started the second half quickly as well, pushing their lead to 14 points on consecutive three pointers. But the Bears, behind a career-high 19 points from freshman guard Ryan Williams, never let up. A lane jumper by Williams, a three-pointer by senior Imad Qahwash and a free throw by Williams brought the Bears within 46-42 with 12:30 remaining.
The Roadrunners did just enough from that point to hold off the Bears, who struggled with their shooting all night. UCA finished at 32.2 percent overall and made just 1 of 15 from three-point range (6.7 percent).
“To see our guys fight back like that in the second half, after being down 14, says a lot about their heart and character,’ said Williamson. “At that point, you just hope you can execute. Sometimes it takes so much effort to get back into the game, that you lose a little in execution. And I think we let them get away with a couple of shots here and there that let them pull away a little at the end.’
Even with the thin bench, the Bears outscored the Roadrunners 30-8 in bench points and 32-24 in points in the paint. Williams had 19 points on 6-or-10 shooting and also made 7 of 9 at the line. As a team, the Bears made 19 of 35 (54.3 percent) from the line. Junior forward Mark Rutledge chipped in 16 points, while senior forward Tadre Sheppard had a game-high 13 rebounds.
“Ryan had one of his better performances of the year,’ said Williamson. “He had a few performances we were excited about early in the year, and then has been a little absent lately. But he came out and had a big game for us tonight. He was one of the main reasons we were in the game.
“Our team does well responding to adversity. We knew when we lost a teammate, everyone had to step up and elevate their game.’
UCA closes the 2011 season at home on Saturday, hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tipoff is 4 p.m. at the Farris Center.
