Game Book In PDF Format
EL PASO, Texas – Elijah Jones erupted for a career-best 24 points while
Jamal West Jr. and
Caleb Blackwell each added 15 points to help the UTEP men's basketball team storm past North Dakota State, 76-66, to claim third place at the 2025 WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational Monday night.
It was a wild back-and-forth game with eight ties and 10 lead changes, but a huge second half from the Miners (4-7) allowed them to rally past the Bison (10-5). UTEP surged out to a 14-2 lead only to have NDSU recover and eventually carry a 36-32 edge into the locker room. The Miners refused to be denied, outscoring the visitors by 14 points (44-30) over the final 20 minutes to pull out the win.
The contest was tied, 66-66, with 3:59 to play before the Orange and Blue turned things up at both ends of the court for a game-closing 10-0 run. West Jr. was instrumental in the second half, scoring 14 of his 15 points over the final 20 minutes, aided by a pair of And-1s.
Kaseem Watson (10 points) joined Blackwell, Jones and West Jr. in double figures for scoring.
KJ Thomas pitched in five points, four assists and two steals. UTEP connected on 47.3 percent from the floor (26-55), including nailing 8-20 (40.0 percent) from distance, but more importantly it finished at 76.2 percent (16-21) at the charity stripe.
The Miners also won the rebounding battle (31-27) for the second straight contest and forced 16 turnovers that led to 14 points. The Bison connected on 50.0 percent (24-48) of their shots, but UTEP locked them up from distance by holding them to just 18.8 percent (3-16) from beyond-the-arc.
The home side played inspired basketball, particularly after head coach
Joe Golding was ejected with two minutes to play in the first half. UTEP trailed, 35-30, at the time of the tossing, but it went on to outscore the Bison 46-31 from that point on.
"It was a great basketball game. North Dakota State is a very good basketball team," UTEP associate head coach
Jeremy Cox said. "They are very well coached. Tonight, coach Golding did something to get his team going, to fight with him. That's who he is. He's the toughest dude, the most passionate dude there is. He spurred us forward, and then our basketball team found a way to get over the hump. It was great because it was against a very good basketball team. They put you in tough situations. We needed to get a win, we got it, and we're moving forward into Conference USA play."
UTEP jumped on NDSU from the opening tip, scoring the first eight points of the contest. Jones and Blackwell started things off with 3-pointers. Jones also splashed home a two-point toss. At the other end of the court, the Miners forced four turnovers in the dominant sequence. It took the Bison more than three minutes to get on the board, using a layup to make it 8-2. UTEP countered with two more 3-pointers, one from Thomas and another by Blackwell, to stake a 12-point cushion (14-2, 15:50, 1H).
NDSU countered with six in a row to reduce UTEP's advantage to six (14-8) before Jones deftly used the glass to bank home a shot. After a score from the Bison, Jones came right back with the hoop and some harm to extend the Miners' lead to nine (19-10, 11:35, 1H). After NDSU crept within five (22-17),
Bobby Montgomery Jr. floated home a layup to beat the shot clock and put UTEP back in front by seven.
The visitors roared back with 11 straight on the way to suddenly pulling ahead at 28-24 (5:14, 1H).
Kaseem Watson halted the surge after splitting a pair of free throws. NDSU scored on its next trip, making the differential five (30-25), but UTEP punched right back. Jones drove to the hoop for a score and Blackwell buried a straightaway triple to tie the tilt at 30 (3:36, 1H) at the final media timeout of the first half. NDSU made a little push down the stretch, and UTEP trailed by four (36-32) going into the locker room.
The Miners surged out of the gates after the break with an 11-3 run en route to regaining the lead at 43-39 (16:32, 2H). Jones started things with a 3-pointer on the first possession of the period. West Jr. then had back-to-back buckets for the Orange and Blue, as he went to work in the post.
Kaseem Watson filled up a jumper before Jones banged home a jumper to cap the sequence.
After an old-fashioned 3-point play by the visitors, West Jr. countered with one of his own to nudge the margin back to four (46-42, 16:02). A basket from NDSU cut it to two but Blackwell buried a 3-pointer on the next trip as UTEP went out by five (49-44, 14:57). The differential was still five (51-46, 13:25, 2H) before a basket down low by the Bison made things a one-possession game (51-48) again.
Kaseem Watson answered immediately with a corner 3-poitner following great ball movement from the Orange and Blue.
The Bison fired back with eight in a row to regain the lead (56-54, 8:29, 2H). West Jr. put a halt to that with his second And-1 one of the affair, but NDSU scored on its next trip to snag the one-point edge (58-57). It initiated a sequence with five lead changes over the next three minutes. The final one was courtesy of a Blackwell layup in transition that put the Orange and Blue up by two (66-64). NDSU tied things up before the Miners ripped off the game-closing 10-0 run.
UTEP will be off the for the holiday break before playing its first three CUSA contests in hostile territory. The Miners will face LA Tech (12/29), first-year CUSA member Missouri State (1/2) and FIU (1/4).
Join the 915 Campaign
