UTEP survives scare at North Texas in overtime

UTEP rallied from ten points down in the second half against North Texas en route to a 77-71 victory in overtime Thursday night in Denton.

Paul Thomas scored a career-high 23 points and added 14 rebounds to lead the Miners to their 8th victory in the last 10 games.

The Miners trailed 44-34 in the second half but rallied behind the steady play of Thomas and Dominic Artis, who added 19 points and five rebounds of his own.

Artis also buried a jumper late in overtime to put the Miners up by six and effectively secure the win.

Derail Green led the Mean Green with 21 points and six rebounds in a losing effort.

The win catapults UTEP from fifth in the conference into a tie for third with three other teams that are all 8-5 in Conference USA play so far.

The top four teams at the end of the regular season will receive byes in the first round of the C-USA tournament.

UTEP’s 8-2 record over the past ten games comes on the heels of a 12-game losing streak.