UTEP Miners

Final Stats

UTEP 67, FIU 64 (Box Score) 

Vince Hunter scored 18 points and knocked down big free throws in the second half, and C.J. Cooper came through late at the charity stripe as UTEP held on for a 67-64 win at FIU Saturday night.

The Miners came up big on their trip to the Sunshine State, sweeping Florida Atlantic and FIU to extend their winning streak to four and stay in the hunt for a top-four finish in C-USA and a bye in next month's league tournament. UTEP is 15-7 overall, 8-3 in C-USA heading into a three-game homestand that starts Thursday against Charlotte. The Miners will be home for five of their final seven league games.

UTEP led for all but 40 seconds of the game, but with a minute left it was 63-62 in favor of the Panthers. It was FIU's only lead of the night.

Omega Harris rebounded Cooper's missed three pointer and laid it in for a 64-63 UTEP lead with 43 seconds left. Following a turnover by the Panthers' Dennis Mavin, who scored a game-high 23 points, Cooper was fouled and connected on both free throws with 18 seconds to go. Mavin split two foul shots on the other end, making it 66-64 with eight seconds remaining. Cedrick Lang was fouled immediately on the inbound, but he was only able to convert 1-of-2 shots for a 67-64 lead. FIU called timeout with 2.4 seconds left to set up a play, but Mavin missed a three at the buzzer and the Miners escaped with a hard-fought victory.

"We feel very fortunate," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "They lead our league in defensive field goal percentage. They bothered us the last 30 minutes of the game. I thought we got a little tight when they started making a run. I thought they stayed within what they wanted to do offensively and got better shots than we did the final 20 minutes of the ballgame. We were able to get to the line and that was really the difference in the game, and keep them off the line late."

The Miners got to the line, but only made 18-of-32 including 13-of-25 in the second half. Hunter, Cooper and Morris were immune to the epidemic on this night, combining to go 16-for-19.

Hunter took control in the second half, scoring 13 of his points and shooting 3-for-4 from the field and 7-for-9 from the line.

Joining Hunter in double figure scoring were Hooper Vint (career-high 12 points), Morris (11) and Cooper (10). Vint was 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from three-point range. His play was critical when Lang picked up his fourth foul with 18:55 to go. Lang played only seven minutes in the second half and 20 for the game.

"Hooper Vint gave us great minutes off the bench tonight in an expanded role for him with our injuries and Cedrick Lang's foul trouble," Floyd said. "Vince Hunter knocked down big free throws late when the others could not make them on our team. We were able to overcome that."

UTEP led by as many as 14 points in the second half. FIU closed the period with a 6-1 run to get within nine (34-25) and scored the first five points of the second half to make it a four-point game.

The Miners responded and pushed the lead back to 11 (55-44) with about nine minutes remaining. A 12-3 run ended with Vint sinking his second three pointer of the night.

FIU used a 14-4 spurt of its own to turn a 57-47 deficit into a 61-61 deadlock with 2:27 to play, setting up the frenetic finish.

Daviyon Draper scored 21 points in 34 minutes for FIU before fouling out, and Adrian Diaz had a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

Another important stat for the Miners was a 17-8 edge in points off turnovers, including 9-2 in the first half when they built a cushion.

UTEP improved to 5-2 in C-USA road games and now will need to make some hay on its home court.

"We would love it if we can [get a top four seed in the conference tournament]," Floyd said. "We've got three in a row at home, that gives us a chance. We've got five road wins now, which is important. We've got to go back and play some very good teams at home and try to play them well, and see where we are after those three games."