The SMU men’s basketball team battled back from an early eight-point deficit to beat the UTSA Roadrunners, 62-56. The win improves the Mustangs to 2-4 and marks their first road win of the young season.

In the first half the Mustangs played about even with the Roadrunners, but finished down by a score of 31-25. The major difference between the two teams in that half was free throw shooting. The Mustangs went 3-11, while UTSA made 7-10.

SMU came out of the locker room firing and eventually tied up the Roadrunners at a score of 45-45. This was the turning point of the game. Right after that, the Mustangs went on an 11-1 run to go up 56-46 with a little over four minutes left in the game.

UTSA eventually made the game close, but SMU senior guard Derrick Roberts hit four clutch free throws down the stretch. In the second half, the Mustangs were nearly perfect from the charity stripe. They knocked down 12-14 and hit the important, late shots.

The game against UTSA was atypical of other games because the Mustangs did not take many three pointers. However, they did shoot at a good percentage by going 5-11 from behind the arc.

The Mustangs had another even scoring distribution in which every player was involved. Three players, Mike Walker, Alex Malone and Roberts, scored in double figures on the game.

SMU head coach Matt Doherty commented, “It was big to get a road win. It was good for our confidence level.” After dropping their first four games, the Mustangs could have lost confidence. However, the team played well enough to win its next two games and have their first official winning streak of the season.

The Mustangs’ next game is against rival TCU (5-2) at home on Wednesday night. The rivalry game will put SMU’s winning streak on the line for the first time this season.