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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Caleb Blackwell tallied a career-high tying 13 points (11 in second half) to pace a quartet of Miners in double figures for scoring, but the UTEP men's basketball team was upended, 74-63, by William & Mary in its first game of the Jacksonville Classic presented by Just Play Solutions Monday afternoon.
The Miners (3-3) dug themselves a 13-0 hole five minutes into the contest. The deficit was 12 (35-23) at the half, and UTEP still trailed the Tribe (5-2) by double figures (48-37) with 14 minutes remaining in regulation.
The Miners started to find their footing, though, ripping off a 12-2 run to cut the margin all the way down to one (50-49, 10:46, 2H). UTEP was within striking distance with roughly five minutes left, with the differential at three (61-58, 4:34, 2H), but William & Mary managed to hold on. The tilt featured runs from each side, but there were no ties or lead changes due to the sluggish start from UTEP.
"It's not good basketball right now. Credit our guys, they came back in the second half, showed a little fight to get back into the game and make it a one-possession game a couple of times," UTEP head coach
Joe Golding said. "We've got to just keep chopping wood until we get it fixed. William & Mary is a good offensive team, and they run a good system. We actually guarded them well until the last three minutes. We've got to trust each other and continue to move the basketball. They were the tougher team, and that's frustrating for me. We pride ourselves on toughness, and this team hasn't bought into that yet."
Blackwell, who previously had 13 points while playing with Alabama A&M, got cooking in the second half to help fuel the Miners' comeback bid. He was buoyed by 11 each from
Cassius Brooks (DI career high) and
Kaseem Watson and 10 from
Elijah Jones. It marked the sixth double-digit scoring effort in as many contests this year for Jones.
Jamal West Jr. netted nine points while tying with Brooks, Jones and
David Tubek for the squad lead in rebounding with five boards. Tubek added six points off the pine in an effective 17 minutes of action.
UTEP finished at 36.9 percent (24-65) from the floor, which was hindered by a readout of 5-25 (20.0 percent) from 3-point range. The Miners sank 10-15 (66.7 percent) at the charity stripe.
While William & Mary did manage to connect on 49.1 percent (26-53) of its shots, including 34.8 percent (8-23) on treys, the Tribe struggled against UTEP's ball pressure. The Orange and Blue came up with a season-high 15 steals on the way to forcing 19 turnovers. West Jr. (career-high four),
Kaseem Watson (career-most three) and Blackwell (three) led the charge in the department.
Reese Miller and Kyle Pulliam each accounted for 16 points to pace the Tribe while Chase Lowe chipped in nine points.
The Orange and Blue were saddled with a slow start, falling behind 11-0 four minutes into the contest to prompt a timeout from Golding. The deficit reached 13-0 before a brilliant layup from Brooks got the Miners on the board. After a bucket by the Tribe, Brooks once again took it to the rack for a score. Jones hammered home a dunk with two hands following the feed from
Tyreese Watson, cutting the margin to nine (15-6, 11:50 1H).
Following William & Mary's third triple of the stanza, Brooks stepped outside the arc to fill up the corner 3-pointer. West Jr. then came up with a steal. He fed it to
KJ Thomas, who dropped it back to West Jr. for a trey of his own that was pure, bringing the Orange and Blue to within six (18-12) midway through the half.
The Tribe struck back with its own 6-0 push as UTEP slipped to down by 12 (24-12, 6:52, 1H). Golding's charges regrouped and countered with an 8-2 surge to once again climb within six (26-20, 4:31). West Jr. had a dunk to start it. Brooks followed with a pair of free throws before a basket by West Jr. and then a long fadeaway jumper courtesy of Blackwell capped the sequence.
William & Mary picked things up late in the stanza with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, and UTEP was forced to go into the locker room down by a dozen (35-23).
The two sides traded scores over the opening six minutes of the second half. The Miners were facing an 11-point hole (48-37) before they started to make their move. Tubek started things with a 3-pointer from the wing, which was followed by a hesitation layup from Blackwell. Two free throws by Brooks capped a 7-0 surge, suddenly slicing the difference to four (48-44, 12:00 2H).
A free throw at the other end was countered by a fadeaway 3-pointer by Blackwell, making it a two-point tilt (49-47, 11:24, 2H). The Tribe got another free throw, but a strong take from
Kaseem Watson let UTEP inch to within just one (50-49, 10:46, 2H). It also wrapped up a 12-2 run.
William & Mary answered with a 7-2 push, aided by two three pointers, to reinstate a six-point edge (57-51, 7:48, 2H). Blackwell put an end to it with another step-back jumper. After the Tribe went back out by six,
Tyreese Watson found himself all alone for the triple to once again make it a one-possession game (59-56, 6:28, 2H).
Two tosses at the charity stripe extended William & Mary's edge back to five before a steal and coast-to-coast score from Blackwell made it a three-point game (61-58, 4:34, 2H). A layup on the next possession for the Tribe stretched the margin to five (63-58, 4:09, 2H), and UTEP was unable to get closer than that the rest of the way.
The Miners will look to cap the MTE on a high note when they lock up with former CUSA rival UAB at 2 p.m. MT/4 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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