Vince Hunter scores 18, UTEP beats Princeton 62-56

Vince Hunter scored 18 points with 12 rebounds, capping his scoring with an emphatic dunk in the final half-minute as UTEP held off Princeton in the opener of the Wooden Legacy tournament on Thursday.

Hunter has double-doubles in all three games this season, the first Miner open the season that way since Nevil Shed in 1966-67.

Henry Caruso, who had scored a combined three points in his previous 11 games, came off the bench to spark the Tigers (1-4) with a career-high 15 points.

Princeton, despite shooting just 29.6 percent in the first half, trailed just 23-20 at halftime and got as close as 49-47 when Amir Bell (10 points) hit a pair of foul shots with 4:45 left – and came within 51-48 on a Bell 3-pointer with 1:56 to play.

UTEP answered with a C.J. Cooper 3-pointer, Cedrick Lang a layup and Hunter a dunk down the stretch.

On Friday, UTEP meets the winner of San Diego-Xavier while Princeton plays the loser.