UTEP Defeats SMU; Old Rival BYU Next On Saturday
El Paso, Texas – UTEP’s Derrick Caracter took over the game late Wednesday, leading UTEP to a 49-45 win over SMU.
With just over two minutes to play, Caracter broke a 41-41 tie on two free throws. He then stole the ball and dunked it for the score to seal the team’s first win in C-USA play this season.
The Miners (10-3, 1-0 C-USA) survived a major upset bid by the Mustangs (5-8, 0-1), who had dropped four of their last five games and were playing without their second-leading scorer Mouhammad Faye. SMU slowed the tempo and had success, holding UTEP to five field goals in the second half.
“Give SMU a lot of credit because they played the game how they had to play it to survive,” UTEP coach Tony Barbee said in a news release. “They slowed it down, they made the game drag out and we were fortunate to pull out the win.
“Hopefully we weren’t looking ahead to Saturday [against BYU]. I don’t know if that was the case. We didn’t have everything and everybody firing on all cylinders.”
Caracter made 7-of-11 shots and all four of his free throw attempts as UTEP won its conference opener for the sixth straight year. The Miners have won 13 of the last 14 against SMU, including seven in a row in El Paso.
UTEP will host long-time rival and No. 25-ranked BYU at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Don Haskins Center. It is the first time the teams have played each otherin 10 years and the first time they’ve played each other at the Don Haskins Center in 11 years.
Tickets for the UTEP-BYU game are available at the University Ticket Center, Ticketmaster locations, and www.ticketmaster.com. Prices are $8.50-$50, not including service charges.
