The UTEP men’s basketball team is getting closer and closer to a breakthrough road win that could change their season.
The Miners can’t get much closer than their 70-66 loss to Sam Houston Wednesday night that UTEP took into the final 10 seconds before the Bearkats escaped with their seventh consecutive win.
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Jamal West Jr.
Jamal West had another huge night with 21 points, but had a contested potential tying layup rim in and out with 8.8 seconds to play, Sam Houston rebounded and made their free throws. The Bearkats broke a tie took the lead with 36 seconds left after they missed a 3-pointer but got an offensive rebounds from Damon Nicholas Jr. that led to tie-breaking free throws.
“We had a great game plan, we executed well, I thought overall we matched their toughness,” coach Joe Golding said. “It came down to big plays. We got the ball where we wanted it, (West) was tough all night, he missed the layup, it wasn’t his fault, he was terrific all night.
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“We missed a big box out (on the next defensive possession). We got the stop, we would have had the ball with 36 seconds left, tie game. … I was proud of our guys.”
With the loss, UTEP fell to 4-8 in CUSA (1-5 on the road) and 8-15 overall while surging Sam Houston went to 8-4, 16-7.
UTEP had an advantage in many areas, but the Bearkats won rebounds 50-37 and second-chance points 18-6 and that was more than the Miners could overcome against the second best team in CUSA.
The Miners were playing from behind the entire second half, though never very far back, then put together a late 10-point run over the course of 4:20 to charge in front 64-63 on Caleb Blackwell’s layup with 1:27 remaining. Blackwell finished with a season-high 22 points.
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More: Analysis: UTEP men’s basketball coming together in time for NMSU
Sam Houston then was able to get to the free-throw line on three straight trips and made five of six free throws to go up 68-64 entering the final 8 seconds. UTEP had a missed 3-pointer from Kaseem Watson and the missed West layup in between that.
UTEP held Sam Houston to 34% shooting from the field and forced 12 turnovers, but in addition to the rebounding issues Sam Houston made 21-of-27 free throws to UTEP’s 10-of-14. Some of those Bearkat free throws, notably the two that gave them the lead for good with 36 seconds, were the result of offensive rebounds.
The Miners shot 40% and were partly undone by 4-of-22 3-point shooting.
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Up next
The UTEP men return to action Saturday night in the Don Haskins Center for a 7 p.m. tip against New Mexico State. Tickets start at $9.15 and includes free entry to the women’s game at 2 p.m. The 7 p.m. tip against the Aggies will stream on ESPN+ and be carried on 600 ESPN El Paso.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP Miners battle but can’t finish in the final seconds at Sam Houston
