UTEP’s comeback falls short in 71-65 loss to San Jose State

HENDERSON, Nevada - Corey Camper Jr. poured in a career-high tying 21 points to go along with a career-best matching five assists while Otis Frazier III added 14 points (11 in second half), but a frenetic comeback bid came up just shy in the UTEP men’s basketball team’s eventual 71-65 loss against San Jose State Monday.

It marked the first of three games in as many days at the Ball Dawgs Classic for the Orange and Blue, who will challenge Long Beach State on Tuesday and UNC Greensboro on Wednesday. 

The Spartans (2-5) led by as many as 18 (59-41) with 9:10 remaining in regulation, but the Miners (3-2) refused to quit.

They fought to get all the way back within three (65-62, 1:38, 2H), but SJSU managed to hold on.

UTEP, the NCAA leader in turnovers forced per game, harassed the Spartans into 24 giveaways that led to 32 points.

The pressure defense gave SJSU, which entered the tilt second in the country at only 7.8 turnovers per contest, problems from the get-go.

Three different Miners registered two steals, helping them finish with nine in the affair.

SJSU overcame that by connecting on 51.2 percent (22-43), including 46.7 percent (7-15) from distance.

UTEP was also outrebounded (35-21).

The Miners registered 13 assists to help them finish 21-51 (41.2 percent) from the floor.

UTEP was however, 27.8 percent (5-18) from 3-point range after the Orange and Blue had entered the contest fourth nationally in 3-point shooting at 44.3 percent.

Derick Hamilton tallied eight points off the bench, helping UTEP hold an 18-9 advantage in bench scoring.

There was one tie in the tilt, but for the fifth time in as many games this year, there were no lead changes. San Jose State vaulted out to an 11-2 advantage four minutes into the contest, and UTEP could never recover.

Utah State transfer Josh Uduje keyed the efforts for his side, tallying a game-best 23 points. He was joined in double figures for scoring by UCLA transfer Will McClendon (22 points).

“We got off to a horrible start. Defensively, we weren’t ready to go and weren’t locked in,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “Give San Jose State credit. We preached to our guys the last three days that they are really good, they’ve got talent. They were 1-5, but they played a tough schedule and have been in games. We just got off to a horrible start. Defensively, we were bad and offensively we could never get anything going. We finally found a group there about the last 10 minutes of the game that was playing hard and competing and was able to change the momentum a little bit. We just made too many mistakes.”

San Jose State put UTEP in an early hole, leading 11-2 four minutes into the contest.

That prompted Golding to call timeout with 15:52 remaining in the stanza. Trey Horton III scored out of the break, but the Spartans eventually nudged the differential to 11 (17-6, 13:51, 1H). The Miners regrouped and rattled off nine consecutive puts to suddenly get within two (17-15, 7:47, 1H).

A free throw by Frazier III was followed by back-to-back buckets from Camper. Frazier III came away with a steal and fed it to Camper, who went coast-to-coast for the score.

After another stop, Camper curled off a screen and then filled up a pull-up jumper from the paint. Hamilton split his trip to the lane.

Three more free throws, two from Devon Barnes and one by Hamilton, capped the surge.

After each side got a score, San Jose State regrouped and ripped off seven straight points to put the Miners down by nine (26-17, 4:43, 1H).

The Spartans looked poised to go into the locker room up by 12, but a shot from three quarters of the court splashed home by Camper to bring UTEP within single digits (36-27) heading into halftime.

SJSU tallied the first five points of the second stanza to extend its advantage to 16 (43-27, 16:12, 2H).

The deficit was 18 (59-41) with about nine minutes to play before UTEP turned up the heat defensively by forcing turnovers on six consecutive possessions.

The Miners took advantage at the other end with 11 in a row, including the first eight courtesy of Camper Jr. Frazier III then buried a triple to make it a seven-point contest (59-52, 5:43, 2H) to cap the surge.

A triple by McClendon finally halted the blitz by the Orange and Blue, but another turnover by SJSU was followed by an up-and-under move from David Terrell Jr. to get his side within single digits again (62-54, 4:42, 2H).

After a misfire from SJSU, Frazier III slashed to the whole to cut the deficit to just six.

UTEP got all the way to within three, but the Spartans used a mini 5-0 run to help put the game away.

The Miners will have a quick turnaround, continuing play at the multi-team event when they lock up with Long Beach State at 5:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. MT Tuesday. Jon Teicher (44th year) and Steve Yellen (22nd year) will be on the call on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso, with audio also available on the UTEP Miners App.

The contest will also be streamed on Flo College Sports (subscription required). 

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