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MTSU men race past UTSA for 84-60 victory




MTSU’s Camryn Weston drives to the basket against UTSA at home on Saturday night. PHOTO BY MT ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

MTSU’s Camryn Weston drives to the basket against UTSA at home on Saturday night. PHOTO BY MT ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

MTSU (15-9, 8-5) raced past visiting UTSA (7-18, 1-13) on Saturday with an impressive 84-60 victory at Murphy Center.

Camryn Weston led the Blue Raiders with 13 points and six rebounds in a team effort, with Jestin Porter and Teafale Lenard Jr. scoring 13 points as well. With 47 of the 84 points coming from the bench, UTSA was forced to game plan for all 14 available players.

“I think you’re harder to prepare for and harder to defend in games when you’ve got so many different players on any given night that are capable of hurting you,” MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt said. “(Teafale Lenard Jr.), I don’t think he scored the other night. Tonight we had three guys that led us in scoring with 13 each and he was one of them.”

MTSU shot 15 percent (2-13) from behind the arc in the first half but outrebounded the Roadrunners 14-2 on the offensive glass to maintain control of the game. In the second half, the Blue Raiders outscored the Roadrunners 49-31 and won the battle of the boards 26-21 to run away with the win.

UTSA utilized a 2-3 zone to take away MTSU’s speed and transition offense. After halftime, Porter was able to adjust his game and found a rhythm, scoring all 13 of his points in the second half and not missing a shot (5-5, 2-2).

“They know we’re a transition team, so they just want to slow us down a little more,” Porter said. “We couldn’t play their game, so we gotta keep playing our game. Move the ball, attack the gaps, get in the paint.”

The Blue Raiders shot 35 percent (9-26) from behind the arc, while holding UTSA to 21 percent (4-19). The shooting disparity, along with forcing eight more turnovers than they gave up (20-12), proved to be a key in the win.

“I tell these guys all the time it’s math,” McDevitt said. “There’s a lot of numbers on (the box score), and when you win the battle on the offensive glass and the turnover battle it’s huge. You can outrebound an opponent by four or five on the offensive glass, and four or five fewer turnovers and you’re gonna have eight to 10 more possessions.”

Lamin Sabally and Japhet Medor led the Roadrunners with eight points, and Jacob Germany used his 6-foot-11 frame to clean the boards with six rebounds and seven points.

MTSU hits the road on Thursday when it travels to Western Kentucky for a 7 p.m. tipoff at E.A. Diddle Arena.

BOX SCORE

MTSU 84, UTSA 60

UTSA (60): Lamin Sabally 8, Japhet Medor 8, John Buggs III 7, Isaiah Addo-Ankrah 7, Jacob Germany 7, DJ Richards 6, Lacklan Bofinger 4, Josh Farmer 4, Azavier Johnson 3, Erik Czumbel 2, Christian Tucker 2, Massal Diouf 2.

MTSU (84): Teafale Lenard Jr. 13, Camryn Weston 13, Jestin Porter 13, Jared Coleman-Jones 8, Elias King 8, Eli Lawrence 8, Deandre Dishman 7, Justin Bufford 6, Tyler Millin 3, Isiah Lightsy 3, Christian Fussel 2.

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