Dec. 29, 2007
Final Stats
UTEP-TSU Box Score (PDF)
UTEP built a 44-10 first-half lead on the way to a 104-61 pasting of Texas Southern on Saturday in Houston.
The Miners won their fifth straight game to improve to 9-2 on the season while handing the Tigers (1-12) their 12th consecutive loss.
"I've been saying that we've yet to play a game where we're clicking on all cylinders," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "Tonight we did that without question, except for late in the first half when we let our guard down a little bit."
The Miners shot 51.4 percent from the field, buried 14 three pointers -- one shy of the school record -- and outrebounded TSU 59-26 to secure their second road victory of the 2007-08 season.
"This team is shocking me every day with the strides we're making," Barbee said. "This could've been a trap game. When we have the kind of focus that we had tonight, we can accomplish a lot of things."
It marked only the third time in school history that UTEP scored 100 points in a road game. The Miners had been 0-2 in such a situation, losing 119-103 at Arizona State on Jan. 9, 1961 and 104-103 in overtime at Hawaii on Feb. 17, 1994.
Five Miners scored in double figures, including freshmen Randy Culpepper (23 points) and Wayne Portalatin (10 points) who both established career-best point totals. Stefon Jackson added 22 points, Marvin Kilgore a season-high 19 points and Victor Ramalho a season-high 13 points.
Julyan Stone pulled down 10 rebounds for UTEP, which collected 24 offensive boards - its best game total since also having 24 versus UC Davis on Nov. 16, 2006.
UTEP outrebounded TSU 46-16 in the season's first meeting between the schools on Nov. 18 at the Don Haskins Center, and Barbee challenged his team to surpass that margin the second time around.
After UTEP built the 44-10 lead with 7:30 remaining in the first half, Texas Southern went on a 13-0 run to cut its deficit to 21 points. The Tigers trailed 46-24 at the intermission, and couldn't get any closer in the second half.
Sollie Norwood led Texas Southern with 20 points. The Tigers shot 37.1 percent and turned over the ball 18 times.
UTEP will host New Mexico on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. MDT. The Lobos are 12-2 and, like the Miners, are riding a five-game winning streak. The first 5,000 fans will receive free orange Stefon Jackson t-shirts on Wednesday at "Orange Out" night.
"We need the place to be packed," Barbee said. "Let's make the Haskins Center the toughest homecourt advantage, and let's start the streak against New Mexico."
