UTEP bests Rice 79-71, moves into two-way tie for 3rd place in C-USA
MINER ILLUSTRATED
UTEP entered Saturday night versus Rice in a four-way tie for third place in Conference USA (Old Dominion, Marshall, Rice).
The Miners stepped on the Tudor Fieldhouse court and made their path to a top-four finish in C-USA clearer, beating Rice 79-71 and moving into a tie for third with Old Dominion after a loss from Marshall.
Paul Thomas put up his second straight double-double by leading UTEP in points (17) and rebounds (10), Dominic Artis scored 16 (seven assists, six rebounds), and Omega Harris added 15 points.
In a game with just one tie and no lead changes, the Miners got away with missing eight free throws (16-of-24) because of great shooting: 64.3 percent from three (9-of-14) and 54 percent from the field (27-of-50).
After the teams played to a 5-5 tie through the first 3:50 -- with the Miners scoring the game’s first five points and Rice the next five -- UTEP would go on to hold a lead the rest of the way.
The Miners began their control of the game with an 11-1 run that gave them a half-high, 10-point advantage (16-6) with 12:36 on the clock. Rice responded with an 8-0 run of its own through the next 1:39 -- cutting their deficit to two -- but it would be the closest the Owls would be again.
The next 7:35 saw UTEP outscore Rice 13-5 to give the Miners a 10-point lead (29-19) for a second time, and the Owls put up the half’s last five points for a 29-24 UTEP advantage at the break.
Out of the locker rooms, the 2nd half’s opening five points gave UTEP a 10-point lead for the third time of the contest. After Rice then cut the deficit to seven, the subsequent 3:20 saw the Miners use another solid stretch (12-5) to get up to their game-high, 14-point lead as the clock read 14:23.
The teams then began scoring back and forth as UTEP leads varied between a high of 13 -- which the Miners held on five different occasions -- and a low of eight through the ensuing 10:10.
With 4:13 to play, the Owls got the deficit down to a low of seven (66-59) for the first time since 17:43 in the 2nd, but the Miners used another 5-0 mini-run in 1:07 to get their lead back up to 12.
Rice then cut UTEP’s advantage back down to seven points two more times before the Miners finished 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in the final 24 seconds.
UTEP finished the game leading for 39:38 of the 40 minutes with the teams having been tied for 22 seconds.
The Miners have a one-game lead over three teams now tied for fifth place in C-USA (Rice, Marshall, UAB) while holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over all three.
