UTEP Miners

Final Stats

UTEP 77, NM State 76 (Box Score) 

Vince Hunter had a double-double for the second straight game, as UTEP rallied from a 15-point deficit to take the lead before holding on for a 77-76 triumph over NM State on Saturday night.

"I thought it was just a tremendous atmosphere and a great, great college basketball game," said UTEP coach Tim Floyd after the Miners snapped a three-game losing streak to the I-10 rival Aggies before a crowd of 11,127.

The Miners moved to 2-0 for the first time in five years behind Hunter, who scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half and added 10 rebounds on the night.

UTEP looked like a team that hadn't played in eight days in the first half, falling behind 40-25 and letting the Aggies (1-3) get pretty much any basket that they wanted. NMSU shot 58.1 percent in the first 20 minutes to surge to a 42-30 lead.

"I thought they were absolutely outstanding in the first half," Floyd said. "Their pressure bothered us. They took us out of what we were trying to do. We couldn't get the ball in the wing to go get started and anything that we were doing, they kept backing us out further and further to the halfcourt line. We drove them some, we got out of control as a result of their pressure, missed layups early, and I thought really got influenced by the lack of ability to make a shot. We just completely acted in disarray on the defensive end and they just had layup after layup after layup."

In the second half, however, the Miners outscored NMSU 47-34 and shot 63 percent while the Aggies cooled off slightly to 50 percent.

NMSU scored the game's first six points as the Miners started a lineup of four newcomers (Omega Harris, Earvin Morris, Lew Stallworth, Terry Winn) and sophomore Matt Willms.

"I thought if we got those guys minutes early it would help us late," Floyd said. "I thought they were going to come after us really hard and I knew they would be better the second time in."

UTEP battled back to take its first lead of the game, 14-13, on a three-pointer by Julian Washburn with 11:51 remaining in the half. The rest of the half belonged to NMSU, which placed three players in double figure scoring (Remi Barry, DK Eldridge, Braxton Huggins) before halftime and outrebounded the Miners 21-14.

In the second half, no Aggie scored more than seven points and UTEP won the battle of the boards 19-12.

Trailing 52-43 with 14 minutes left, the Miners went to work. They scored the next seven points, pulling within two (52-50) on a free throw by Morris at the 12:30 mark.

After NMSU scored five straight to push the lead back to seven, UTEP went on a 16-8 spurt and took its second lead of the game, 66-65, on a three-pointer by C.J. Cooper with 4:44 to play.

The Miners put the foot on the gas and extended their cushion to eight (75-67) on a layup by Cedrick Lang with 2:30 to go.

Hunter had two three-point plays during a span of 2:26 beginning at the six-minute mark. UTEP went from trailing 64-60 to leading 71-65 during that stretch.

In complete control leading 75-69 with a little over a minute remaining, the Miners survived a late-game meltdown. Cooper lost the ball to Eldridge and fouled him. He hit two free throws to make it a four-point game (75-71). Matt Willms turned the ball over, leading to an Eldridge dunk and a two-point lead (75-73). After Harris scored on a huge putback with 18 seconds left, Eldridge hit a three pointer. The Miners' lead was down to one (77-76) and Harris was sent to the line with six seconds to go. He missed both but, fortunately, Daniel Mullings missed a jumper at the other end as time ran out.

"We were really, really, really fortunate to win the game making 11-for-20 free throws late and we need to grow from it," Floyd said. "We as a coaching staff will view it as a game that we can learn from and teach from and hope to get better from. We could really be sitting here with our head in our hand right now, just as easy as we're feeling good about the win."

Lang made 6-of-9 shots and 3-of-4 free throws, scoring 15 points with seven rebounds for the Miners. Harris added 13 points, and Julian Washburn had 11.

Eldridge's late flurry gave him a team-leading 17 points. Remi Barry added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with nine rebounds.

"We had no answer for Barry in either half," Floyd said.

They did, however, have an answer for Aggies star Daniel Mullings, who finished with six points.

"I can't say enough about the job Julian Washburn did on Mullings," Floyd said. "It was huge. They rely on him so much. Cedrick Lang was terrific defensively with his help to Mullings. I think we're all witnessing the emergence of him offensively. Cedrick is finishing a lot of shots that he didn't finish his first couple of years and he has worked really hard at it. He did a very, very fine job for us offensively, on the glass and with his help defense."

Hunter was a little out of control in the first half. In the second half, he was the best player on the floor, making 6-of-7 shots and 4-of-6 free throws.

"Vince Hunter rebounded the defensive board, probably the best thing that he did. He's a terrific talent," Floyd said. "I thought he got a little outside of himself in the first half. He did not let that happen as much in the second half. He's growing. He's still young, but he's an amazing talent who is trying to get around all parts of the game right now, which he should be. We couldn't have won without him. He was outstanding on the boards with some big boards late."

It wasn't pretty, but it was a much-needed victory for the Miners heading into the Wooden Legacy Nov. 27-30 in Fullerton and Anaheim, Calif. UTEP will take on Princeton at noon MT Thanksgiving Day with ESPNU providing national coverage.

"We're a work in progress, but it's an important win for us as we enter a tournament where we're going to see the extreme opposite of the [Aggies] in terms of style of play," Floyd said. "It's very important that we handle it maturely, that we come back Monday and Tuesday to get ready for the Princeton Tigers where we'll see a great zone, we'll see great man to man, we'll see a very cerebral team that can really pass and cut, where if you're not in a stance and you're not alert and alive they're going to wear you out with backdoor layups and open threes.

"We'll see if we can grow again as we go play Princeton and that's the beauty of college basketball, what we're going to have to turn around and do on Thursday."