March 6, 2010
Final Stats | UTEP over UAB 52-50 Photo Gallery by Brian Kanof 
VIDEO CLIP of R.Culpepper & D.Caracter in the stands celebrating with fans, by Ivan Pierre Aguirre
Box Score in PDF Format 
EL PASO, TEXAS (AP) - Derrick Caracter scored the final six points for UTEP, including a game-winning dunk with 1 second left that gave the Miners (No. 21 ESPN/USA Today, No. 24 AP) a 52-50 victory over UAB on Saturday night.
Reserve guard Myron Strong scored 15 points and Caracter had 13 for UTEP (24-5, 15-1 Conference USA), which rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half.
The Miners held the Blazers (23-7, 11-5) to one field goal in a span of 10:47 while whittling away at the lead. Caracter's two free throws tied it at 48 with 2:46 remaining, and his layup put UTEP ahead 50-48 with 43 seconds to go. It was the Miners' first lead of the game.
After Aaron Johnson's jumper tied it with 6 seconds left, the Miners called timeout. Julyan Stone then passed to Caracter for the winning dunk.
"Derrick finished it off, but it's a play that we've run a thousand times in practice," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "We ran the exact same play last year at Nevada (a 79-77 UTEP victory), and Stefon Jackson scored on it."
Following the game, UTEP fans took to the court and celebrated with the Miners, who won their first outright conference championship since 1987. UTEP clinched the crown with Tuesday's 80-76 victory at Marshall.
Johnson led the Blazers with 16 points and five assists. Elijah Millsap added 12 points and 14 rebounds, but UAB managed only three field goals in the final 17 minutes.
"Our defense was spectacular in the second half," Barbee said.
UTEP shot 37.5 percent, while UAB finished at 36 percent. A big key was the Miners turning the tables on the Blazers on the boards in the second half. After getting outrebounded 23-18 in the first half, UTEP had a 20-14 edge in the final 20 minutes.
UTEP trailed 32-22 at the midway point and was down 38-24 when UAB's Kenneth Cooper scored three minutes into the second half.
"Even though we were down 10 at the half, we still held them to 35 percent shooting," Barbee said. "Our offense was anemic but our defense kept it close enough that we were at arm's length."
It was the ninth win by less than 10 points for UTEP in C-USA play.
"We've won a bunch like this down the stretch," Barbee said. "We need games like this to challenge us going into the C-USA Tournament."
The Miners, the top seed in the C-USA Tournament, will face either eighth seed SMU or ninth seed UCF on Thursday at 8 p.m. MT at the BOK Center in Tulsa. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports. SMU and UCF will square off in the opening round on Wednesday.
Tickets to the C-USA Tournament are available by calling (915) 747-6150.
