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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – Tae Hardy tallied a team-high 15 points, including two late 3-pointers, but UTEP's rally against Bradley came up short in a 63-59 setback in the championship contest of the SoCal Challenge Wednesday night.
 
The Miners (5-1), trailed by nine (57-48, 2:57 2H) before consecutive 3-pointers by Hardy in a span of 36 seconds made it a 3-point affair (57-54, 1:31 2H). UTEP didn't allow the Braves (5-0) to hit a field goal down the stretch, but enough free throws made from the defending Missouri Valley Champions allowed them to stave off the Orange and Blue.
 
Otis Frazier III also reached double figures in scoring (11 points), with his And-1 at just under five seconds left making it 61-59, but two charity stripe tosses from the Braves sealed the game. Zid Powell and Calvin Solomon battled through foul trouble to pitch in eight points apiece.
 
The Miners won the boards (39-31), with Kevin Kalu snatching a squad-best seven caroms. UTEP turned the Braves over 15 times, including 10 in the second half. The Orange and Blue kept Bradley to 41.1 percent (23-56) from the floor, including 20 percent (3-15) from distance. All of that wasn't enough, though, to overcome an 11-point (37-26) halftime deficit and an off shooting night (21-57, 36.8 percent).
 
"We didn't finish the first half (well), we had two bad turnovers that led to four quick points for them and turned a seven-point game to 11," head coach Joe Golding said. "I love the way we competed in the second half. We disrupted them. I love the fight of our guys. I don't know why we didn't have that in the first half. I don't know if it was the nerves of being in this moment for the first time together against a veteran team. We weren't ourselves necessarily in the first half, but I loved the fight and competition in the second half.
 
"Bradley's a very good offensive team," Golding said. "In the second half we turned them over 10 times and disrupted them. We were just not very good offensively. We forced too many things and were going in there trying to get calls that we didn't get. We got to make the extra pass. We've got to learn from this. We're six days in. Bradley won the Missouri Valley Championship last year. We'll get better, and we've got a bunch of guys who want to win."
 
The Braves tallied the first five points of the game, but the Orange and Blue countered with six consecutive points. David Terrell Jr. got UTEP on the board with a pair of free throws. Kalu then finished at the rim off a nifty find from Corey Camper Jr. Two more free throws, this time from Solomon, capped the sequence to afford the Miners a small edge (6-5, 15:21 1H).
 
It was back-and-forth over the next couple of minutes, with Powell burying a trey to put UTEP up three (12-9, 11:36 1H). Bradley answered with seven consecutive points to pull back ahead (16-12, 10:04 ,1H.)
 
The differential remained four (26-22 3:56 1H) following a putback slam dunk from Elijah Jones, but the Braves would nudge it out to double figures (32-22, 3:01 1H. Bradley took advantage of four straight free throws, including two from a technical foul, to fuel the run. Hardy sliced through the defense for the lay-up to end it, but the damage had been done as Bradley eventually carried an 11-point cushion (37-26) into the locker room.
 
UTEP tallied the first six points of the second stanza, including a knockdown jumper from Hardy and Frazier III slamming home a putback, to inch within five (37-32, 15:16 2H). The Braves pushed the margin back to seven (39-32, 15:00 2H), but Frazier III got going to try to start a comeback. He finished a lay-up in transition and hit two free throws after being fouled on an offensive putback. Powell capped it by going 1-2 at the line to trim the deficit down to just two (39-37, 12:44 2H).
 
Bradley scored the next four points to extend it back to six. The deficit was nine with just under three minutes to play before Hardy caught fire. He drained a pair of 3-pointers in a 36-second span to suddenly make it a 3-point game (57-54, 1:31 2H).
 
The Braves took care of business at the charity stripe, however, to prevent the Miners from completing the comeback. Twice they turned a one possession game into a four-point cushion with clutch free throw makes.
 
UTEP will conclude its stay in California when it plays at LMU for its first true road game at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT on Saturday (Nov. 25). The contest will be broadcast on 600 ESPN El Paso. It will also be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required).
    
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