Game Book
EL PASO, Texas – Jamal West Jr. exploded for a season-high tying 28 points to pace a quartet of Miners in double figures as the UTEP men's basketball team defeated Kennesaw State, 78-71, at the Don Haskins Center Thursday.
The Miners (11-19, 7-12 CUSA) surged to a 10-point (35-25) halftime lead on the Owls (18-12, 10-9 CUSA). After a 19-9 run to start the second half allowed KSU to pull even at 44, UTEP roared back in front with a game-altering 15-2 surge. When the dust had settled, the Orange and Blue led by 13 (59-46, 8:39, 2H), and KSU never got closer than six the rest of the way.
UTEP led for more than 35 minutes of action, and its biggest deficit was only three (20-17) with seven minutes to play in the stanza.
Kaseem Watson (15 points),
LA Hayes (13 points) and
Caleb Blackwell (11 points) buoyed the play of West Jr. by reaching double figures in scoring. All 13 points by Hayes came after the break, helping him finish at +18 in the contest. The Miners are now 6-1 in CUSA games when at least four players tally 10+ points.
West Jr. set the tone, however, attacking the Owls from the opening tip. He drew eight fouls and finished at 14-16 from the charity stripe and 7-15 from the floor overall. He added seven rebounds, two steals and two emphatic blocked shots for the big night.
Trey Horton III,
Elijah Jones and
KJ Thomas each chipped in three points while
Mouhamed Mbaye added a pair to round out the scoring for the home side. Jones snared a team-high eight caroms.
"I thought the first half was good and Kaseem's shot (at the buzzer) was huge to build some momentum. We came out in the second half, and they won the first four minutes to get right back into the game and tie it at 44, but then we were able to go on a run," UTEP head coach
Joe Golding said. "I thought Jamal was great tonight. When they played him one on one, he obviously scored the basketball. He got to the free throw line 16 times. Just overall, it was a really good team win."
A trio of KSU players hit double figures in scoring, but UTEP made the high-flying Owls work for everything they got. They were limited to 33.8 percent (22-65) from the floor, including only 22.6 percent (7-31) in the opening frame. KSU, which entered the contest nailing 10 treys per tilt, made just 3-23 (13.0 percent) from beyond-the-arc. It tried to make up for that by winning the boards (51-39), which was helped by snagging 18 offensive boards, but UTEP did too much in other areas.
The Miners had nine steals while committing just nine turnovers, in addition to shooting it much better at 41.1 percent (24-57) than the visitiors. UTEP was also 8-21 (38.1 percent) on 3-pointers, helped by Watson going 3-6 and Hayes sinking 2-3. The Miners were also 22-30 (73.3 percent) at the charity stripe to do a decent job of keeping pace with KSU (24-35, 68.6 percent) in that department.
The triumph snaps a four-game skid and keeps the Orange and Blue in the running for the 2026 Conference USA Championships (3/10-14).
UTEP fought through a couple of turnovers to snag an early 4-0 lead on a pair of scores by West Jr., including a long feed through traffic from Blackwell. After a layup by the visitors, Watson splashed home a trey to stretch the advantage to seven (9-2, 16:55, 1H). Following a triple by KSU, both sides went scoreless for the next couple of minutes before two tosses at the charity stripe by West Jr. dropped in.
The Owls tied it at 12 with a free throw. A pair of makes at the free-throw line by West Jr. was followed by the second 3-pointer of the stanza by Watson to fuel a mini 5-0 run (17-12, 8:53, 1H). Kennesaw State responded with a 7-0 surge, taking advantage of a flagrant foul for a four-point possession. Blackwell put an end to that with a clean look on a 3-pointer that was nothing but net to prompt a quick timeout from the visitors.
After KSU eventually pulled even at 22, UTEP slugged back in the form of 10 straight. Blackwell got it going with a layup after he split the defense. A nifty pass by Horton III threaded the needle to Mbaye for a layup. That was followed by another free throw from West Jr. The Orange and Blue got another stop, which led to a triple from Horton III. West Jr. then capped the consequential run with a steal and one-hand flush.
After three straight free throws from KSU, Watson beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer from about 30 feet out to send UTEP into the locker room up by 10 (35-25).
The visitors ripped off an 8-1 run to start the second half, trimming the Miners' lead to three (36-33). Blackwell stopped it with a high-arching floater, but KSU kept firing. The surge to start the second half eventually reached 19-9 as the Owls tied the tilt at 44 (13:44, 2H).
UTEP regrouped and roared back with a 15-2 surge on the way to going in front by 13 (59-46, 8:39, 2H), and it would never trail again. Fittingly the run was started by West Jr. sinking two free throws. Watson followed with a pair before a triple by Jones. West Jr. scored the next four points for UTEP, which sandwiched two free throws from the Owls. Hayes then bolted past everyone for a layup before West Jr. capped it with a transition dunk that forced the visitors to call timeout with the Don roaring.
The Owls tried to get back into it, but UTEP was not having it. Hayes nailed a couple of back-breaking triples, including one as he fell to beat the shot clock to balloon the differential to 14 (65-51). The visitors managed to creep within six with inside a minute to play, but the Miners didn't let them get closer.
UTEP will lock up with Jax State on "Senior Day" at 1 p.m. MT Saturday.
Jon Teicher (45th year) and Steve Yellen (23rd year) will be describing the action on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso. It will also stream on ESPN+ with Andy Morgan and Bobby Braswell on the call. Tickets begin as low as $9.15 and may be purchased by visiting www.UTEPMiners.com/Tickets or calling (915) 747-UTEP
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