UTEP To Take on Ball State Monday Night at the Diamond Head Classic

UTEP Miners

UTEP vs. Ball State GameNotes

HONOLULU, Hawai'i – UTEP, after a narrow setback against host Hawai'i, will look to bounce back against Ball State in the consolation round at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Monday night. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. local time/11:30 p.m. MT. The Miners are facing the Cardinals for the first time in program history.

Ball State (6-5) is coming off an 85-64 loss to no. 22 Washington.

The Miners and Cardinals will be televised on ESPNU with Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (color analysis), while "The Voice of the Miners" Jon Teicher will call the action on 600 ESPN El Paso.

The Miners (8-3) were led by Bryson Williams who tied a career high with a 33-point effort on 13-of-26 shooting (4-4 FT). Daryl Edwards (12 points) and Souley Boum (10) were the other pair of Miners in double figures.

The Miners led by as many as nine points and held an eight-point lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. But with a game that featured 11 ties and eight lead changes, the Rainbow Warriors rallied and used an 8-3 run that started at the 2:20 mark and downed UTEP, 67-63.

UTEP's Monday opponent, Ball State, fell to no. 22 Washington, 85-64, in the earlier contest Sunday evening. Tahjai Teague (14.2 ppg), Ishmael El-Amin (14.2 ppg) and Kyle Mallers (11.4 ppg) average double figures, while Teague leads the Cardinals in rebounds per game (8.2). Ball State recently won at Georgia Tech by 18 points (65-47) on Dec. 18 and beat up on IUPUI, 102-54, on Dec. 7. Ball State averages 10.0 three pointers per game, ranking first in the MAC and 19 nationally.

Against the Huskies, Teague led the way with 20 points on 8-15 shooting and El-Amin chipped in with 13 points. Ball State hung with the no. 22-ranked team in the country, as the Cardinals were down 52-49 at the 15:27 mark. But the Huskies were too much down the stretch.

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