UTEP cruises past Western New Mexico, 90-62; Miners snap 3 game losing skid
(Courtesy: UTEP Athletics)
EL PASO, Texas - Otis Frazier III recorded his first career double-double (11 points, career-high 10 rebounds) as the UTEP men’s basketball team eased past Division II Western New Mexico, 90-62, at the Don Haskins Center Monday evening.
Zid Powell (14 points) Tae Hardy (12 points) and Corey Camper Jr. (10 points) also reached double figures in scoring.
The Miners (6-3) led for nearly 39 minutes of action, with the Mustangs (2-5) overwhelmed across the board.
UTEP shot 46.5 percent (33-71) from the floor, including draining a campaign-best tying 10 tries 3-point range.
UTEP also went 14-18 (77.8 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Orange and Blue crushed WNMU on the boards (51-29), including pulling down a season-high 21 offensive rebounds.
That helped to a 19-8 advantage in second-chance scoring.
The Miners also enjoyed cushions in bench scoring (41-25), points in the paint (44-22) and fastbreak scoring (29-7).
Another positive for UTEP was committing only nine turnovers.
The Miners also recorded 10 steals, leading to a 27-4 differential in points off giveaways.
David Terrell Jr. (seven points, three assists), Elijah Jones (seven points), Sebastian Cole (five points), Trey Horton (five points) and Jon Dos Anjos (five) made an impact off the bench. In fact, all 13 Miners who dressed out tallied at least two points in the tilt.
“I’m glad that everybody got the opportunity to score, and it was a good night for us obviously,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “More importantly, I think it was the last three days after the Corpus game. We talked a lot about how you can’t have growth without adversity. We’ve worked these guys really hard in practice. We had some guys step up with some leadership stuff, so I’m pleased. Our culture is getting better, that’s where I’m most pleased.”
UTEP tallied the first four points of the contest before a small push by the visitors afforded them an 11-10 edge.
The deficit was short lived, with the Orange and Blue unleashing an 11-0 run to vault ahead by double digits. Camper Jr. started the sequence by draining a triple off the feed from Hardy.
After a miss at the other end, Dos Anjos ripped down the rebound and sent the outlet pass to Hardy.
He dropped it off for Camper Jr. for the easy lay-up.
The Miners kept piling up stops, and they would take advantage at the other end.
Sebastian Cole used a pure stroke to drill a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.
Dos Anjos followed suit with a trey of his own to conclude the dominant stretch, as UTEP suddenly led by 10 (21-11) with 12 minutes left in the frame.
The Mustangs tallied the next seven points in the affair to whittle the differential down to three, and they eventually got within one (25-24, 8:11 1H). UTEP countered and pushed its lead back to double figures (42-31) heading into halftime.
The home side was responsible for the final six points in the period, with the last four points coming on tosses at the free throw line.
Both teams came out firing to start the second stanza, but UTEP quickly found another gear.
It came in the form of an 18-2 run, which included 13 straight, to put some more space between the two sides.
There was scoring both inside and out, with a trio of 3-pointers accenting some nice scores down low.
Powell was assertive during the sequence, accounting for 10 of the points. That included burying a trey and two driving lay-ups through the defense.
When it was all said and done, the Miners were up by 23 (62-39) with 13:07 remaining in regulation. Golding emptied his bench down the stretch, and WNMU never got back into the game.
UTEP made sure of that by continuing to play hard with the variety of lineups, and it put together a 14-1 run down the stretch to cap off the contest in style.
UTEP will face its second Pac-12 opponent of the season when it plays at perennial power Oregon at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT on Saturday (Dec. 9).
The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 network while airing on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso.
