SAN ANTONIO — A late second half comeback nearly got it done for the North Texas men's basketball team but UT San Antonio's Jhivvan Jackson''s game-winning jumper with three seconds left in the game won it for the Roadrunners on Saturday, 76-74, and ended the Mean Green's eight-game winning streak. The loss also puts the Roadrunners atop the Conference USA standings. 

"Give them credit they can really score," said head coach Grant McCasland. "We've done a good job defending the rim but tonight they got too many easy baskets at the rim and we didn't shoot the ball enough. We also had 10 first half turnovers."

North Texas (16-2, 4-1 C-USA) trailed for most of the first half as UTSA packed the paint prevented much around the rim. UNT fell behind by six at the half — its largest half time deficit of the year and just the third time they've trailed at the half all year. 

UTSA also got a boost in the first half from its bench that only went two deep but outscored North Texas' bench 13-7 by the end of the game.

Junior Ryan Woolridge carried the Mean Green as they traded buckets with UTSA (10-7, 4-0 C-USA). Woolridge was the first scorer in double figures as he got to the rim and finished around the Roadrunners' big men.

Late in the game, UTSA increased its lead to a game-high 10 points, but a few stops by the Mean Green put the roadrunners on their heels. Led by Roosevelt Smart's shooting andJorden Duffy attacking the paint, North Texas tied the game at 71 with 2:40 left in the game. 

UTSA retook the lead but another three-pointer by Smart, which gave him a team-high 18 points, tied the game again with 50 seconds on the clock.

San Antonio missed a jumper with 25 seconds left but it was tapped out to the prerimiter where the Roadrunners' Byron Frohnen collected it and called a timeout. 

With three seconds on the clock, the slippery first team all-conference and 2018 C-USA Freshman of the Year, Jackson, got his mid-range jumper to fall. 

 UNT had no timeout remaining but still got off a decent look as Jahmiah Simmons chucked the inbound to the opposite free throw line where Zachary Simmons caught it, turned around and shot it off before the buzzer but was off target.

"I was proud of our guys, because I thought we guarded Jackson for the most part pretty good tonight," McCasland said.

Jackson, who was averaging 20.5 per game prior to Saturday, finished with 17 and had just two points at halftime.

"He went on a little run there in the second half and got some points at the line too but credit to UTSA, they have a great offense," McCasland said. "This league is tough. We know we're going to get everyone's best shot."

With the loss, the Mean Green end fall to third-place in the conference standings, with more than half of the conference schedule remaining. It ends what has been the second eight-game winning streak of the season.

North Texas has a week off before its next game. The Mean Green host Rice on Jan. 19 at 5:00 p.m. at the Super Pit. UNT beat the Owls in Houston on Dec. 29, 103-87.