UTEP Miners

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Third-ranked Arizona went to the line 22 times in the second half, and stifled UTEP on the defensive end to stay unbeaten with a 60-55 win over the Miners Friday at the Don Haskins Center.

After UTEP (6-4) took its first lead of the game, 40-38, on a layup by Vince Hunter with 12:44 remaining, Arizona (12-0) held the Miners without a field goal for the next five and a half minutes to regain control of the game. UTEP had four field goals in the last 12:43.

Hunter had a great game with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and UTEP coach Tim Floyd felt like he couldn't afford to take him out of the game when he picked up his fourth foul with 9:28 remaining. About a minute and a half later, Hunter was assessed his fifth foul and the Miners had to play the final 8:09 without him.

At that point, UTEP was down 45-41. Arizona built the lead to 10 (56-46) with three and a half minutes left, part of an 18-6 run. The Miners made it interesting in the final minute, particularly when, with the deficit down to four, C.J. Cooper missed a free throw purposefully and tipped it out to Lew Stallworth for a three point attempt that wouldn't go down. The Wildcats' Brandon Ashley split two free throws for the final margin.

UTEP was able to recover from a horrific start in which it fell behind 15-2 in the first five and a half minutes. The Miners chipped away, using a 14-2 run to tie the game at 21 on a Hunter layup with 3:19 to go in the half. It was still a tie game (25-25) before Stanley Johnson nailed a three pointer as time ran out to send Arizona to the locker room up 28-25.

"I was really impressed with their poise, how they came out the first seven minutes of the game for being on the road for the first time," Floyd said. "I thought that was a big part of the game - their start and our inability to start. We were bogged down and on our heels. Couldn't really explain it. When we went smaller, we seemed to be better."

Hunter recorded his seventh double-double in 10 games with 18 points and 12 rebounds. At halftime he had one foul, 14 points and nine boards.

"Vince Hunter's effort in the first half was as good as any player that I've had at any point of my career," Floyd said. "It was just a really spirited, great effort. He's a tremendous talent and he played that way. He had [four] fouls in the second half, which I really can't explain. We needed him out there. It was just one of those things."

Arizona went 15-for-26 from the line, 13-for-22 in the second half. UTEP was subpar at the stripe - 8-for-18, 6-for-14 over the final 20 minutes.

"They were able to get to the line consistently in the second half and that was the difference in the game," Floyd said. "And we did not make our free throws when we got up there. We had a stretch where we missed four straight. That happens. But overall, I was very, very pleased with a lot of things I saw out there tonight."

The Miners had two more field goals than the Wildcats (22-20), and matched them on the boards (34-34). Turnovers were about even - 18 for UTEP, 17 for Arizona.

Omega Harris scored eight of his 10 points in the second half for UTEP. Johnson scored 17 points, Gabe York 13 and Ashley 10 to lead Arizona.

The Miners came up short, but gained confidence by hanging with a national title contender.

"We'll be tough to beat here if we play with that kind of effort on the defensive end," Floyd said. "We'll all learn from our mistakes. We had several, but by and large we played one of the great teams in the country in a great atmosphere and it was a good night for basketball here in El Paso."

The Miners will have to put this one in the rear view mirror quickly as they prepare to host Alcorn State in the 2014 edition of the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational on Sunday at 7.

"That's the difficult thing, and we talked about it a little bit at the shootaround this morning, that regardless of what happens we've got to turn around and go play on Sunday," Floyd said. "We'll get their minds off of this. We may look at a little film and see if we can grow from some of our mistakes. But then we're going to turn around and start talking about our next opponent."