Jan. 9, 2010
Final Stats
Box Score in PDF Format 
Freshman Tyler Haws tied his career-high with 20 points and added 11 rebounds as no. 25 BYU ran its winning streak to 11 games with an 83-77 victory over UTEP on Saturday at the Don Haskins Center.
The Cougars (16-1) nearly matched their season average of 84.6 points despite playing without the Mountain West Conference's leading scorer, junior guard Jimmer Fredette. Fredette was averaging 20.7 points per game but sat this one out while battling mononucleosis.
Another freshman, Brandon Davies, also equaled his career-high with 14 points as BYU shot 54.9 percent from the field.
The Cougars didn't trail again after Jonathan Tavernari's three-pointer late in the first half erased a 30-28 UTEP lead. Tavernari scored 19 points.
"This game came down to two very simple things," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "Offensively, they executed when they needed to, and we didn't. Defensively, they got steps when they needed them, and we didn't. We broke down offensively and defensively."
The Miners shot just 36.2 percent from the field - including 30 percent in the first half. Their starting big men, Derrick Caracter and Arnett Moultrie, combined for 11 of the team's 16 turnovers. And Randy Culpepper had a nightmarish shooting night, hitting just 2-of-15 shots - including misses on his first 10 attempts. Culpepper didn't score his first bucket until 9:49 remaining in the game.
Still, UTEP was in position to knock off the Cougars - trailing by two points (64-62) with 6:10 to play and by three (77-74) with 33 seconds remaining. But they simply didn't make enough plays at crucial times to win, and a 27-for-38 night at the charity stripe didn't help, either.
"It was disappointing to have such a lack of execution on both ends of the floor on our home court," Barbee said.
Caracter and Jeremy Williams led the Miners with 17 points apiece. Christian Polk added 16, Moultrie 11 and Culpepper 10.
UTEP completed the non-conference portion of its 2009-10 schedule with a 9-4 record and jumps back into Conference USA play beginning on Wednesday at Houston. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. MT at Hofheinz Pavilion.
