Miners drop 10th straight in conference road opener

Nick Billingsley scored 17 points in a reserve role, leading UTSA to a 67-55 win over UTEP in the Conference USA opener for both schools on Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

The Miners (2-11, 0-1 C-USA) took a 38-37 lead, their last of the game, on a layup by Dominic Artis with 14:40 remaining. But they went cold after that, managing only two field goals over the next nine minutes. UTSA wasn’t much more prolific offensively during the stretch, outscoring the Miners 13-4 to go ahead 50-42.

UTEP shot 44.7 percent for the game, but that number cooled off to 40.9 percent in the second half. The Miners scored nine field goals in the final 20 minutes, but three of those came over the final 2:37, and all from Artis who scored 18 points.

The Miners will hit the road once again for games at LA Tech ( Thursday , 5:30 p.m. MT) and Southern Miss ( Saturday , 3 p.m. MT) this week. LA Tech won at Southern Miss, 79-55, in its league opener earlier on Sunday .

“It was a real opportunity for us here today ,” Floyd said. “We didn’t take advantage of it and we’ve got to go back on the road for two more.”