SAN ANTONIO – Western Kentucky’s worst offensive performance of the season was the culprit Saturday for the Hilltoppers’ second Conference USA loss.

UTSA took advantage of a struggling WKU offense and posted a 74-63 win against the Toppers at the Convocation Center. Guard Jhivvan Jackson scored a game-best 22 points for the Roadrunners (13-11 overall, 6-5 C-USA).

WKU (16-7, 8-2) shot 22-of-61 (36.1 percent) from the floor, its lowest percentage of the season.

The team also posted figures of 2-of-20 (10 percent) from 3-point range and 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) from the free-throw line. Those numbers marked the Hilltoppers’ second-worst performance this season from the perimeter and third-worst from the foul stripe.

“With the mindset we had, we weren’t ready to come in and play today and it showed,” said WKU guard Darius Thompson, who was held to nine points and committed four turnovers with zero assists. “We shot the ball horrible, didn’t play any defense. They beat us in every aspect of the game.”

Guard Taveion Hollingsworth scored a team-best 21 points for WKU, hitting the Tops’ only two 3-pointers of the afternoon.

The freshman Hollingsworth left the game after colliding with UTSA guard Keaton Wallace in the final minute. WKU coach Rick Stansbury said afterward that he wasn’t 100 percent sure about his guard’s status, but believed he had a broken nose.

Forward Justin Johnson was WKU’s only other double-digit scorer, posting a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The senior finished with his typical strong numbers but didn’t play his best game, shooting 5-of-14 from the floor, 0-of-4 from the 3-point line and 3-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Johnson missed his first eight field-goal attempts.

“It starts with me,” Johnson said. “I was sorry the first half and wasn’t much better the second half. I’ll take a lot of the responsibility for it.”

Stansbury pointed to the game’s opening minutes as a tone-setter for the afternoon. The Roadrunners raced out to leads of 7-0, 14-3 and 19-5, and led 37-25 at halftime.

Much of that was due to the Hilltoppers’ woeful first-half offense. The Hilltoppers shot 7-of-31 from the field and 0-of-9 from 3-point range, were outrebounded 31-17 and recorded just one assist.

WKU’s only saving grace the first half was its ability to get to the foul line, shooting 20 free throws. But even then, the Toppers still struggled to hit them, making only 11 of the 20.

Beyond the numbers, Stansbury said his team generally lacked an aggressive mindset on the floor Saturday.

“I think we just kept thinking somewhere along the way someone was going to make some plays and get us going and win the game,” Stansbury said. “Well it never happened.

“That started from the get-go, right off the bat, them beating us to two loose balls that led to five points before we got to that first timeout. Can’t happen.”

WKU’s loss Saturday came two days after a 72-60 victory at Texas El-Paso. The Toppers struggled much of that night and were down in the second half before making enough plays to win.

WKU again came out with a lackluster performance against UTSA, only this time a second-half rally wasn’t in the cards.

The Roadrunners got off to a quick start to begin the second half, scoring the first five points on a Jackson 3-pointer and a Byron Frohnen layup.

Frohnen’s bucket made it 42-25 UTSA with 18:52 left in the game. That 17-point deficit marked the largest the Hilltoppers had faced since falling behind then-No. 5 Villanova by 18 points Nov. 22 in a 66-58 loss at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

“We try to win those first five minutes of the second half and what do they do? They score the first five points, push a 12-point lead to 17,” Johnson said. “That can’t happen. You’ve got to come out ready to play.”

The closest the Hilltoppers got over the final 20 minutes was nine points. That came when Hollingsworth hit a 3-pointer with 15:08 left that cut the Roadrunners’ lead to 44-35.

UTSA pushed the lead back to double-digits on a Giovanni De Nicolao jumper on its ensuing possession. WKU never cut the deficit to within 10 points the rest of the way.

Wallace scored 11 points off the bench for UTSA to complement the star freshman Jackson’s 22. Jackson, who’s been named C-USA Freshman of the Week five times this season, hit four 3-pointers.

Saturday’s loss snapped the Toppers’ five-game road winning streak. Four of those wins had come in C-USA play.

WKU has now lost two of its last four contests overall. The Hilltoppers fell Jan. 20 to Middle Tennessee before beating Marshall on Jan. 27 and UTEP on Thursday, then losing again Saturday in San Antonio.

“When we first came out here we just had that sluggish attitude,” the graduate senior Thompson said, “and you can’t come out here like that, especially on the road.”

Up next

WKU will return to E.A. Diddle Arena for a two-game homestand against C-USA’s two Florida schools. That starts Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Florida Atlantic.

The Owls (10-13, 4-7) fell 77-66 at home Saturday to Southern Mississippi.

Notes

Stansbury is 31-24 in his second year at WKU and 324-190 overall in his coaching career. … WKU leads its all-time series against UTSA 3-2. The Hilltoppers are 1-1 against the Roadrunners in San Antonio. … Hollingsworth hit WKU’s first 3-pointer of the day with 15:08 left in the second half. That pushed the Toppers’ streak of consecutive games with a made 3 to 961, dating to March 15, 1987. … Hollingsworth is now ranked eighth on WKU’s all-time list for most points in a season by a varsity freshman, passing Johnny Britt with 301 points. … Announced attendance at the Convocation Center was 1,305.{&end}