Jan. 19, 2008
Final Stats
CSTV Highlights 
UTEP-Houston Box Score (PDF)
Houston held UTEP to one field goal during a six and a half minute stretch of the second half on its way to a 77-72 win over the Miners on Saturday afternoon at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The Cougars (13-3, 2-0 C-USA) outscored the Miners 14-3 during their dry spell, turning a 40-38 deficit into a 52-43 lead. UTEP (11-5, 2-1 C-USA) fell behind by as many as 11 points, 67-56 with 2:16 remaining, before a late rally came up just short.
"We had a tough stretch there in the second half," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "We let down in a crucial period of the game."
Tafari Toney scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half for the Cougars, who improved to 10-1 at home this season in Tom Penders' 1,000th game as a head coach.
Toney also pulled down 12 of his game-high 14 rebounds in the second half. The Cougars had 11 offensive rebounds and eight second chance points in the second half.
UTEP tied its season-high for turnovers with 23, including 13 in the second half.
"You can't go on the road against an experienced team like Houston and have 23 turnovers and give them extra possessions," Barbee said. "And our number one key to the game was running down all defensive rebounds. We knew they would take a lot of three point shots and there would be a lot of long rebounds. They got four or five huge offensive rebounds [in the second half]."
Houston led 31-29 at the end of a first half that featured nine lead changes. The Miners outshot the Cougars 44.8 percent to 36.1 percent in the opening stanza, and outrebounded UH 22-17. But the Cougars were 5-for-16 from three-point territory in the opening half to UTEP's 1-for-11.
The Cougars finished 9-for-31 from three-point range, as Kelvin Lewis went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc in scoring 17 points. UTEP was 3-for-20 from outside.
"We got some great looks from three, we just didn't knock them down," Barbee said. "There are a lot of positives that we can take out of this game, even though you know I don't like moral victories. You've got to have guys who can make plays in a helter skelter basketball game, and we had too many turnovers."
UTEP shot 39.1 percent from the field and had a 45-42 edge on the boards. Stefon Jackson (21 points-11 rebounds) and Victor Ramalho (11 points-10 rebounds) both had double-doubles for the Miners, who had five players score in double figures.
Houston shot 35.7 percent from the floor.
"We executed about as well defensively to the game plan as we have all year," Barbee said. "We're getting better and better defensively. It's offensively where we need to improve."
The Miners will play at UCF on Wednesday at 5 p.m. MST before returning to El Paso and hosting Tulsa on Jan. 26 and Southern Miss on Jan. 30.
