Bohannon And Lang Lead UTEP To A 63-53 Win Over Houston

John Bohannon played the game of his life for the Miners on Wednesday night scoring 24 points and 17 rebounds, as he led his team to an important 63-53 win over Houston.

Bohannon simply could not be stopped, his numbers were career highs and by halftime he already had a doudle-double.  Cedrick Lang also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  The Miners split the season series with the Cougars, and moved to 15-11, 8-5 in C-USA play.

UTEP played a superb defensive game holding the Cougars to 37.8% shooting, and outrebounded Houston 40-31.  The Miners led 36-25 at the half, but then began the second half ice cold, scoring just 7 points in the first 14 minutes of the half.  Towards the end of the game Houston was only down by a deuce, 43-41.

At that point Bohannon and Lang scored five consecutive points and helped the Miners seal the deal with the victory.  UTEP has been stellar on the defensive side of the ball lately, holding their last 4 opponents to under 40% shooting.  The Miners will travel back to Houston to face Rice on Saturday.

It is imperative that they win this game, as they want to clinch a first round bye in the C-USA tournament next month.  The team needs to win one of their final three games in order to get the bye, and Rice is by far the weakest of their three final opponents.

Following the game Coach Floyd talked about John Bohannon's exceptional performance and how his team was able to win despite shooting just 35 percent, he mentioned,

Coach Floyd also spoke about the Miners road performances this season, he had this to say,

If UTEP wants to earn a first round bye in the C-USA tournament it is not going to be easy.  Two of their final three games are on the road, a place where they have not had much success this season.  Their final home game is against #19 Memphis next Tuesday.  If they want that bye, then they will most definitely have to earn it.