GAME NOTES: The Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee shoot for their third straight win on Thursday, as they visit the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners in Conference USA action at the Convocation Center.

Middle Tennessee enters the meeting fourth in the C-USA standings with a record of 5-2, having won two straight and five of the last six outings overall. The most recent victory for the program was a 72-69 triumph over Charlotte.

Meanwhile, the Roadrunners have won just three of their seven league outings, tying them with Rice in the middle of the C-USA standings entering the week. UTSA has alternated wins and losses over the last six games, with the trend continuing last weekend when the program bowed to Western Kentucky on the road, 83-74.

The Blue Raiders won the only previous meeting with the Roadrunners rather decisively, 80-58, at the Murphy Center last season.

Trailing by double figures at the break, the Blue Raiders came out blazing in the second half versus Charlotte, hitting 57.9 percent from the floor and 19- of-24 at the free-throw line in order to claim the 3-point win at home. Jacquez Rozier made good on all five of his field goal tries as he finished with a team-best 13 points followed by Jacob Ivory and Darnell Harris with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Middle Tennessee operates best when scoring minimal points and also holding down the competition. The Blue Raiders are one of those rare teams that doesn't have a single double-digit scorer on the roster as the group generates only 61.8 ppg. Reggie Upshaw, who has come off the bench more often than not, is responsible for 9.4 ppg and is also tops on the glass with 6.0 rpg, while Rozier is second in both categories with 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.

Against the top team in the conference, the Roadrunners came out flat and never recovered last Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena. However, even with the nine-point setback, UTSA still had some strong performances, namely Keon Lewis who tallied a game-high 24 points, grabbed four rebounds and handed out four assists, Jeromie Hill tacked on 18 points and eight rebounds, Ryan Bowie 11 points and eight boards and Kaj-Bjorn Sherman 10 points and seven rebounds of his own for the visitors.

In conference games, Hill has been the driving force on offense with his 19.4 ppg, stemming from 43.9 percent shooting behind the 3-point line. He is also one of the better rebounders with 6.3 rpg, but those numbers still don't make up for the fact that he's shooting only 55.2 percent at the free-throw line. Lewis chimes in with another 14.0 ppg and is first with 28 assists, while Sherman tacks on another 10.9 ppg and 6.7 rpg as he makes good on an impressive 65.7 percent of his field goal tries.

With a balanced scoring attack the Blue Raiders are able to keep everyone involved in the offense and that should bode well for the program as long as it can keep Hill and Lewis from ringing up big numbers at their end of the floor.