The Miners Cinderella season continued on Thursday night as they won for the tenth time in their last eleven games by defeating Louisiana Tech in front of 8,361 enthusiastic fans.The atmosphere was electric as the Miners moved into a first place tie with Southern Miss with the victory.  UTEP improved their overall record to 15-6, 5-1 in C-USA, and secured their 500th win at the Don Haskins Center.  The star of the night for the Miners was freshman Vince Hunter who scored 26 points.

In total four Miners scored double figures.  Julian Washburn poured in 21, C. J. Cooper added 17, and John Bohannon tallied 13 and had a double-double.  Vince Hunter's spectacular performance matched Giovanni St. Amant's 26 points scored as a freshman in 2003.  Julian Washburn became the 33rd Miner to score 1,000 points.

UTEP closed out the first half with a 15-5 run and went into halftime with a 43-36 lead. LA Tech was able to cut the Miners lead to six points a couple of times in the second half, but UTEP shot 56 percent from the field and was able to hold off the Bulldogs.  UTEP was even able to weather the storm in the second half when both Bohannon and Coach Floyd were given technical fouls within a span of a few minutes of each other.  The officiating was quite questionable in the game to say the least.

Next up for UTEP is Rice on Saturday to complete their three game home stand.  Following the game Coach Floyd discussed his satisfaction with the victory and talked about how worthy of an opponent preseason favorite LA Tech was, he mentioned.

Coach Floyd also said "our crowd was phenomenal and I want them to spread the word.  I'd like to have a sellout in here on Saturday night.  I think these kids deserve it."  Let's hope the fans actually come out on Saturday night and sell out the Don Haskins Center for the first time in two seasons.  The red hot Miners are putting on one hell of a show, I'm not sure what else they can do to sell out the Don, at this point the fans have no excuse not to be there.

Here is the youtube video of the postgame press conference.

 

 

More From 600 ESPN El Paso