Riley and East Carolina take down UTSA 82-81

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jordan Riley led East Carolina with 27 points and Demitri Gardner made three free throws with three seconds left as the Pirates defeated UTSA 82-81 on Wednesday night.

Down by two points with five seconds to play, Corey Caulker missed the second of two free throws. Gardner grabbed the offensive rebounds, was fouled on a 3-point shot and hit all three foul shots to cap the scoring.

Riley also contributed six steals for the Pirates (10-18, 5-10 American Athletic Conference). Gardner scored 13 points while shooting 4 for 12 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. Caulker shot 4 for 7, including 3 for 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points, while adding six assists.

Jamir Simpson led the way for the Roadrunners (5-23, 1-15) with 22 points, 10 assists and four steals. Dorian Hayes added 18 points, six rebounds and two steals for UTSA. Daniel Akitoby also had 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

Riley scored nine points in the first half and East Carolina went into the break trailing 43-34. Riley scored 18 points in the second half. East Carolina outscored UTSA by 10 points over the final half.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.