Dec. 1, 2007
Final Stats
UTEP-UNLV Box Score (PDF)
Curtis Terry hit two of his six three pointers during a 10-0 run late in the first half, carrying UNLV to an 84-71 victory over UTEP on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Terry scored 20 points for the Runnin' Rebels (5-2), shooting 7-for-9 from the floor and 6-for-8 from outside. UNLV buried 10 three pointers in the game, including seven in the first half when it built a 39-28 lead.
UTEP (4-2) trailed 23-22 when UNLV started the run and 33-22 when it ended. The Miners fell behind by as many as 16 points in the second half, and couldn't rally despite cutting the deficit to single-digit points on three occasions.
UTEP made five more field goals than UNLV, and outrebounded the Runnin' Rebels 43-37. The Miners also did a decent job of protecting the basketball, committing 14 turnovers. But UNLV was 10-for-22 from three-point range and UTEP was 3-for-22, and the Runnin' Rebels were 26-for-35 from the charity stripe to the Miners' 10-for-18.
"You can point a lot of fingers in a lot of directions and look at the foul shots, but what got us tonight was two things," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "One, we needed to play harder they did, and we were playing catch-up in the intensity department the whole game. And two, our defensive transition was horrendous, and we spend a lot of time working on it."
UNLV scored 16 points off turnovers in the first half and 24 on the night.
Joe Darger buried four three pointers and scored a career-high 23 points for the Runnin' Rebels. Stefon Jackson and Marvin Kilgore led the Miners with 22 and 18 points, respectively. They have both scored in double figures in all six games this season.
Victor Ramalho added 10 points and eight rebounds for UTEP, his third double-figure scoring game as a Miner.
UNLV responded with three pointers each time UTEP closed the gap to single digits in the second half.
The Miners sliced the deficit to 53-45 with 13:36 to play and 56-47 with 12:51 remaining, but Terry hit a triple each time. Then Darger connected on a trifecta after UTEP pulled within 65-56 with 6:28 left.
"We thought we were the better team, but we didn't show it tonight," Barbee said. "Hopefully we can learn from this blown opportunity."
UTEP will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 8 at New Mexico State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT. The Miners won the first meeting between the two rivals this season, 84-76 on Nov. 27.
