UTEP Ends the Regular Season with an 81-74 Win Over UTSA

The Miners sent seniors Tevin Caldwell, Hooper Vint, Earvin Morris, and Victor Mbachu off in style with an 81-74 win against UTSA to conclude the regular season.  UTEP finished the season on a strong note by winning 7 or their final 9 games, and will head to Birmingham tomorrow for the C-USA tournament championships.

The Miners, 18-13, 10-8 in C-USA, will be the number 6 seed in the tournament, and will face 11th seeded FIU next Wednesday at 7:30 MST.  Four players scored double figures for the Miners on senior day.  Earvin Morris led all scorers with 23 points, Dominic Artis tallied 13 points, Lee Moore added 15, and Omega Harris contributed with 13 as well.

Following a slow start, the Miners played efficiently throughout the remainder of the first half and took a 29-28 lead into halftime.  UTEP outscored UTSA 32-11 with under a minute to go in the first half until the 10:35 mark of the second half to take a 56-39 lead.

UTEP shot the ball exceptionally well in the second half as they scored 52 points, and shot 69.6 percent from the field en route to their victory over the Roadrunners.  The Miners also shot 64.7 percent from downtown on 11-17 shooting, while holding the Roadrunners to 39.7 percent shooting for the game.

UTEP's bench also outscored UTSA 48-22, however, they did struggle tremendously from the charity strip by making only 20 of 40 free throw attempts for 50 percent.  The Miners will now travel to Birmingham for the C-USA conference tournament championship where they will have to win four games in 4 days in order to receive the automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.

One thing is for certain, the Miners are more than capable of making a run next week in Birmingham as they have won 6 straight games on two separate occasions this season.  The questions is, can they do it when everything is on the line?  We will find out soon enough.