UTEP men can't get over road hump, fall to Western Kentucky
The UTEP men stuck to the familiar road script Thursday at Western Kentucky: The Miners played well much of the night, gave themselves a chance, then came up short down the stretch in a 90-80 loss that dropped them to 0-8 in true road games.
UTEP battled into a 65-65 tie with 8:00 to play on a Zid Powell layup, then turned the ball over three times in the next 2:30 while missing three of their next four shots, contributing to a 15-4 Hilltopper run that doomed the Miners.
More: CUSA men's basketball standings
UTEP fell to 4-6 in Conference USA and 13-12 overall. Western Kentucky improved to 7-4, 18-7.
The Miners dodged the first WKU knockout attempt, as UTEP rallied from a 30-18 hole in the middle of the first half into a 33-33 tie that the Miners parlayed into a 40-39 halftime advantage.
The Hilltoppers led most of the second half, but UTEP answered each WKU surge with one of their own in a game that featured seven ties. Once the stretch came, however, UTEP, as so often has happened away from home, ran out of answers.
The ultimate culprit was defense, as the Hilltoppers shot 57% to UTEP's 41% on a night when most of the other stats were close.
The Miners hung around in the first half because they made 4-of-15 3-pointers to Western Kentucky's 1-of-6, but the Hilltoppers heated up from range (they were 5-of-11 in the second half), UTEP lost contact.
UTEP was balanced with four players in double figures: Tae Hardy finished with 19 points and four assists, Otis Frazier had 15 points, Zid Powell put up 12 to go with five rebounds and three assists and Corey Camper had 11 points.
Up next
UTEP finishes its two-game road swing when it takes on Middle Tennessee on Saturday. The 4 p.m. Mountain time tip in Murfreesboro will be streamed on ESPN+ and aired on ESPN 600 El Paso.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP men can't get over road hump, fall to Western Kentucky
