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EL PASO, Texas – The UTEP men's basketball team held to No. 24 Florida Atlantic to 11 points below its seasonal scoring average but couldn't overcome a slow start and an off shooting night in a 67-59 setback in a physical contest in front of 5,421 fans at the Don Haskins Center Saturday evening.
 
The Owls (19-1, 9-0 C-USA bolted out to a 12-0 lead six minutes into the game to put the Miners (11-9, 4-5 C-USA) in a big hole. The home side continued to battle as the game wore on but could get no closer than six the rest of the way. It marked the first time this season that UTEP never led in a contest.  
 
UTEP was hindered by shooting 30.8 percent from the floor (20-65), including 18.8 percent from 3-point range (3-16). FAU sank 42.6 percent overall (20-47), including 37.5 percent (6-16) from 3-point range.
 
UTEP won the boards (43-40) against the C-USA leader in rebounding margin, aided by 16 offensive boards, held an 18-6 advantage in second-chance points and forced 20 turnovers that led to 19 points. The Miners also made a season-high 76.2 percent (16-21) from the free throw line. It wasn't enough, however, to compensate for falling behind big early.
 
The Miners were led by Calvin Solomon's (season-high tying 16 points, 10 rebounds) second double-double of the year. Tae Hardy matched Solomon with 16 points to go along with three boards. Mario McKinney Jr. provided a spark off the bench with 11 points and seven rebounds while Otis Frazier III added six points and eight rebounds before fouling out.
 
"I'm sorry to the crowd, I thought our crowd was terrific tonight," UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. "They showed up and represented UTEP and El Paso. We've got to play better in these types of games, and we will as we continue to build this thing. I apologized to our team after the game. We've been aggressive all year, since day one in the summer with these guys, and we switched it up probably in the first 25 to 30 minutes of the game. The last 10 minutes of game we got back to who we are, and it was a lot better.
 
"Our guys were connected, there was good energy on the bench," Golding said. "It would have been real easy to get negative with everything that was going on. I'm proud of our team for that. I'm disappointed with the we played, but again that's on me. Our effort was there tonight. We left some points there (in transition)."
 
FAU got out to an 10-0 start five minutes into the contest, which was aided by a six UTEP giveaways in the stretch (finished with 15 turnovers). It eventually stretched to 12-0 before the home side got things going a bit. The Miners struck back with five unanswered to cut the deficit to single digits (12-5). Solomon was responsible for all five points, including an And-1. The Owls answered with a 5-0 push of their own to extend it back to 12 (17-5, 11:07 1H).
 
It was a 13-point differential (22-9, 9:28 1H), but UTEP continued to chip away by using an 8-1 push to get within six (23-17, 5:13 1H). Frazier III and Carlos Lemus (four points, career-best five rebounds) had buckets while Shamar Givance and McKinney Jr. each sank a pair of free throws during the sequence. FAU responded and moved the lead back to 10 (27-17, 3:50, 1H) heading into the final media timeout of the half.
 
Hardy drilled a shot-clocked beating on UTEP's next possession. After FAU split a pair of free throws, Lemus sank a jumper to make it a six-point affair (28-22, 2:21 1H). The Owls countered with a 7-0 surge to go back ahead by 13, and it would remain a 13-point differential (37-24 heading into the locker room.
 
FAU was up by 15 (41-26, 17:57 2H) before the Orange and Blue peeled off six straight to creep within nine (41-32, 15:04 2H). Included in the mini run was an athletic putback by Frazier III. The Owls brought it to a halt by burying a triple, which ignited an 8-2 push to put UTEP down by 15 (49-34, 12:24 2H) and force Golding to call timeout.
 
UTEP was still trailing by 13 (59-46, 3:01 2H) before back-to-back baskets from Hardy and McKinney Jr. respectively cut the differential to single digits (59-50) for the first time since early in the second half. The Miners were unable to get any closer however as FAU finished off its 18th consecutive victory.
 
UTEP will be idle for a week before playing the first of eventually three in a row on the road when it takes on second-place North Texas in Denton at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT on Jan. 28.  Jon Teicher (42nd year) and Steve Yellen (20th year) will be on the call on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso. It will also be streamed nationally on ESPN+.
 
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Mattress Firm is the Presenting Sponsor of UTEP Men's Basketball.
 
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