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EL PASO, Texas – Tae Hardy registered a team-high 15 points and UTEP stifled a potent offensive LA Tech squad in a 60-55 win in the Conference USA opener for both squads at the Don Haskins Center Saturday evening. It marks UTEP's first victory in a league lid lifter in seven seasons (W, 61-60, vs. Rice, 1-1-16) and keeps the Orange and Blue undefeated at home (7-0) on the year.
 
The Miners (7-3, 1-0 C-USA) locked up the high-flying Bulldogs' (6-5, 0-1 C-USA) offense, which had entered the contest producing 76.8 points per game. UTEP held LA Tech to an opponent season-low 29.6 percent from the floor, including 16.0 percent from beyond-the-arc. It also harassed the visitors into committing 20 turnovers that resulted in 16 points.
 
UTEP shot 44.4 percent from the floor to surpass 40 percent for the 10th time in as many games, and it used a balanced approach offensively. Ten different Miners scored in the contest, paced by Hardy's 15. Carlos Lemus netted eight points (all in the second half) while Mario McKinney Jr. contributed seven points.
 
Keven Kalu (six points, career-high tying nine rebounds), Shamar Givance (six points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals) and Calvin Solomon (six points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals) all stuffed the stat sheet as well. Otis Frazier III scored five points in eight minutes after missing consecutive contests with an injury. Included in his scoring total were two late free throws to help seal the triumph.
 
The Miners registered eight steals, led by three from Hardy, as the pressure defense frustrated LA Tech. They also connected on five 3-pointers, won the battle of the bench scoring (24-14) and points in the paint (28-24) to help overcome an off night at the charity stripe. UTEP was 15-37 at the free-throw line, but it made just enough down the stretch to hold on.
 
"The narrative out there is going to be the free-throw shooting. Absolutely we need to get better making free throws," Golding said. "We're practicing free throws. We're going to get better at it. We all understand that, but we just beat a really good basketball team and we were 15-37 at the free-throw line. Why did we beat a good team? We got back to who we are defensively. We held them to four threes, 29 percent from the floor and we had some toughness plays, multiple effort plays all night. That's growth for me with our locker room.
 
"I'm proud of our team," Golding said. "It hasn't been an easy week. We talk about adversity a lot. Every season is a journey, it's not going to be perfect. Look around college basketball, there's a lot of good teams taking some whooping's that are like wow, you wouldn't (expect) to see that. We took one in DePaul. We got back to work this week, and we got back to who we are defensively."
 
The Miners got on the board first with a step-back 3-pointer from McKinney Jr., who made his first start in the Orange and Blue. LA Tech took its first lead of the contest with four straight points, but a nifty running hook shot in the lane by Jon Dos Anjos put the Miners back up (5-4, 15:06, 1H).
 
It remained a one-point lead (7-6) before a Givance lob to Solomon led to an alley-oop that brought the crowd to its feet. The Bulldogs countered immediately with a trey to tie the tilt at nine. The two sides went back-and-forth over the next few minutes, but UTEP ripped off seven straight to go up, 21-14, with 7:14 left in the first half. Hardy accounted for five points during the run, starting it with a dunk and capping it with a triple.
 
The Miners continued to lead as the half wore on, settling for a three-point edge (26-23) entering the locker room after a missed shot was tipped in to beat the buzzer by LA Tech's Isaiah Crawford.
 
The two teams traded baskets over the first four minutes of the second half, with UTEP up by five (34-29) after a McKinney Jr. lay-up in traffic. After LA Tech cut it to one (36-35), Lemus nailed a clutch 3-pointer to beat the shot clock buzzer.
 
The make ignited a 7-0 run, which also included Lemus's old-fashioned 3-point play to put UTEP up by eight (43-35,9:57 2H). The Bulldogs countered with five consecutive points to trim the advantage to three (43-40, 9:05 2H) before a Lemus charity stripe toss stopped it. That was followed by a lay-up from Givance and two free throws by Solomon to extend the Orange and Blue's margin to eight (48-40).  
 
The lead grew to 10 after a putback dunk from McKinney Jr. Following two free throws by LA Tech, McKinney Jr. found Kalu on an alley-oop to reinstate a 10-point cushion (56-46, 3:14 2H). The Bulldogs managed to trim the deficit to three (57-54, 27 seconds left), taking advantage of missed Miner free throws and a timely turnover.
 
Lemus made it a two-possession contest (58-54) by splitting a pair of free throws), but LA Tech cut it to three (58-55, 22 seconds left) after a free throw of its own. Frazier III inched the advantage to four (59-55) after a free throw. The Bulldogs misfired on a lay-up with five seconds left, and Frazier III iced the contest with another toss at the charity stripe.
 
UTEP will be back in action when it partakes in the 61st-annual WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational from Dec. 21-22. The Miners open the event against North Carolina A&T at 7:30 p.m. MT on Dec. 21. Kent State and NM State will commence the tournament at 5:30 p.m. MT.
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