Nov. 12, 2010
Box Score in PDF Format
Sam Willard had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Jose Rivera scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half as Pacific rallied to beat UTEP, 66-61, on Friday night in the Don Haskins Center.
The Tigers (1-0) trailed 36-25 at the half, but made up the deficit in the first five and a half minutes of the second period. A three-pointer by Rivera at the 14:36 mark gave Pacific its first lead (40-38) since it was 13-12 eight minutes into the game. After Willard extended the lead to three points (45-42) on a three-pointer with 11:08 to play, the Miners (0-1) regrouped to go ahead 53-49 on a Gabe McCulley free throw with 7:07 remaining.
Back-to-back three pointers by Pat Eveland and Jose Rivera lifted Pacific into a 55-53 lead with 5:49 left, and the game was nip-and-tuck over the next four minutes before Demetrece Young buried a three-pointer at the 1:44 mark, breaking a 59-59 tie and giving the Tigers the lead for good.
Terrell Smith followed with a tip dunk and Young scored a layup as Pacific pushed its lead to 66-59 with 32 seconds left. McCulley's free throws with 21 seconds to play completed the scoring.
The Miners were outscored 41-25 in the second half, making just 8-of-28 shots while Pacific caught fire, shooting 53.3 percent in the second period including 8-for-13 from three-point range.
Randy Culpepper led the Miners with 13 points, but did not score in the second half while going 0-for-6 from the field.
Julyan Stone added 12 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Jeremy Williams contributed nine points and six rebounds, and Christian Polk had eight points and seven boards.
Claude Britten gave UTEP a boost offensively in the second half with all eight of his points coming over the final 20 minutes.
A 10-0 run in the first half put the Miners ahead 26-16 and electrified the sellout crowd of 12,222 --- the first capacity crowd for a UTEP home opener since 1986. UTEP shot 55.2 percent in the opening period in taking a 36-25 lead into the locker room.
The Miners will take on Mercer (1-0) in the regional rounds of the Legends Classic on Sunday at noon in the Haskins Center. The Bears beat Oglethorpe in their opener, 67-44, on Friday night.
