Feb. 3, 2010
Final Stats |
Photo Gallery by Brian Kanof 
| Post-game Recap (CBS College Sports) 
| Tony Barbee Post-game Interview
Box Score in PDF Format 
Derrick Caracter scored a season-high 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as UTEP overcame a 14-point first half deficit to beat Houston, 65-58, on Wednesday at the Haskins Center.
The Miners have won six straight Conference USA games for the first time since joining the league for the 2005-06 season.
The victory sets up a showdown for first place on Saturday between UTEP (16-5, 7-1 C-USA) and Tulsa (18-4, 7-1 C-USA) in El Paso. The Golden Hurricane knocked off Marshall, 73-69, earlier in the night. UTEP and Tulsa will tip-off in the Haskins Center at 8 p.m. MT.
After getting outrebounded 41-35 in a 75-65 loss to the Cougars on Jan. 13 at Hofheinz Pavilion, the Miners controlled the glass on Wednesday, 42-33, and outscored Houston 42-18 in the paint.
"It was the No. 1 key tonight on the board," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "We had to dominate the paint, and we did that in all aspects."
UTEP trailed 30-17 with under four minutes to play in the first half before ending the period with a 9-0 run to close to within 30-26.
"I told the guys, `Whatever we do, we've got to get this to single digits,'" Barbee said. "If it was nine (points) I would have been fine with it, obviously I was ecstatic that it got to four. That was huge because the game wasn't too far away from us coming out of halftime."
The Miners took their first lead of the game, 39-38, on a jumper by Arnett Moultrie with 14:12 to play. UTEP couldn't widen its lead to more than seven points, however, and the Cougars (11-10, 4-4 C-USA) remained within striking distance, closing the gap to 55-54 on a three pointer by national scoring leader Aubrey Coleman with 3:31 remaining.
Caracter answered with a jumper at the 3:04 mark, and after Coleman misfired on another three-point attempt, Julyan Stone tipped in a missed basket by Myron Strong to increase UTEP's advantage to 59-54.
Two free throws by Kendrick Washington pulled Houston to within 59-56 with 2:23 left, but Caracter again responded with a basket. Coleman hit a jumper to slice the Miners' lead to 61-58 with 1:39 to play, and the Cougars had a chance to get even closer following a UTEP miss and defensive rebound by Kelvin Lewis. But Washington missed a three pointer with 41 seconds to go, Jeremy Williams snagged the defensive board for the Miners and UTEP closed it out with free throws.
Caracter was 10-for-12 from the field, including 7-for-7 in the second half in scoring 15 points.
"Boy, was he a man," Barbee said. "We need him like that every night."
Williams added 12 points and Christian Polk had 11 for the Miners.
"I thought Jeremy Williams stepped up and made some huge plays in those drives late," Barbee said. "He made some big free throws to give us separation, to make it a three-possession game."
Coleman led Houston with 23 points, but he was 9-for-27 from the field. The Cougars shot 31 percent in the second half.
"I thought, collectively, we had a great defensive game plan that the guys executed," Barbee said.
The Miners received a major boost from a season-high home crowd of 10,595.
"The crowd was unbelievable," Barbee said. "Hats off to them because they put us over the top. This is when you build something special, when you get a crowd behind you and help you and carry you in times of need."
It marked the 11th time in 12 meetings between UTEP and Houston as C-USA rivals that the game was decided by eight points or less.
