GAME NOTES: After a road victory on Thursday night, the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners will remain in the state of Florida to take on the Owls of Florida Atlantic in a Conference USA battle at FAU Arena.

UTSA outlasted the FIU Panthers on Thursday in Miami, 74-63, to pick up the team's second win in its last three outings. The Roadrunners are an even 5-5 against conference competition so far, but have performed better than most away from home, owning a 6-4 road record.

Florida Atlantic returned home Thursday night from a three-game road stint, only to be beaten by Texas-El Paso, 63-56. The Owls have now lost four consecutive games, and have fallen to a dismal 1-8 in Conference USA. FAU is a respectable 6-3 at home, however.

This meeting will mark just the second time ever these two fairly new conference foes clash on the court. The sides met last season in San Antonio, which saw the Roadrunners come away with a 66-56 victory in that first-ever meeting.

FIU looked to be the stronger team for a majority of the game on Thursday night in Miami, as the Panthers took a 35-26 advantage over UTSA into the locker rooms at halftime. But a 15-2 run for the visitors midway through the second half helped them overtake the hosts, as the Roadrunners were able to coast to victory after the 20-point second-half swing. Keon Lewis led the charge with 23 points and four steals, while Jeromie Hill tallied a double- double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kaj-Bjorn Sherman added 14 points, and Ryan Bowie collected 13 points, six rebounds and five assists in his team's win.

Hill tops UTSA in scoring average this season, and ranks third in the Conference USA standings with a 16.9 ppg mark, adding in a team-best 7.6 rpg as well (also third in the league rankings). He's trailed in the scoring department by Lewis (14.4 ppg), Bowie (12.8 ppg) and Sherman (11.4 ppg), who round out a group of double-digit scorers for the Roadrunners. UTSA as a unit is netting 71.5 ppg this season, but has really struggled to hold it together on the defensive end of the floor, surrendering 70.5 ppg to opponents on 45.3 percent shooting.

FAU and UTEP went into the intermission knotted at 27-27 on Thursday, which gave hope to the Owls who were looking for just their second league win of the season. But it was the visiting Miners who came out strong in the second frame, connecting on 48 percent of their field goal tries compared to just 33.3 percent for Florida Atlantic. Justin Raffington tallied a double-double for the Owls in the loss, netting 20 points with 10 boards before fouling out of the game. Marquan Botley chipped in with 11 points of his own, adding in a team-high five assists. The Miners dominated offensively in the paint, outscoring the Owls down low, 40-26.

Solomon Poole has typically been outstanding since his return to the team just seven games ago. The guard leads FAU in scoring at 14.1 ppg through his 13 games played, while Botley comes in at 12.9 ppg. With Jackson Trapp (11.1 ppg) and Raffington (10.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg to lead the team) all healthy and playing again, perhaps Florida Atlantic can start to pull things together. The team will need to boost its 63.0 ppg mark if it wants to compete in conference down the stretch. The team's defense is doing an adequate job of limiting opponents to 64.6 ppg this season.

FAU should start to see a few more wins once the players that have missed significant time, like Raffington and Poole, start to mesh together. But it may take more than one or two contests, and coming off a huge comeback road win will mean good things for UTSA's momentum in this one.