Scoring droughts and points off turnovers saw the Miners fall 52-42 against North Texas
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Miners (11-10, 4-6 C-USA) were looking to start their three-game road stretch with a win against North Texas (18-5, 9-3 C-USA) Saturday, but scoring droughts and points off turnovers put an end to that as UTEP fell 52-42.
“Effort tonight wasn’t the problem,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “Our kids battled tonight. That was two teams playing their butts off. Two really good defensive teams."
The game was tight early but then North Texas went on a 14-1 surge midway through the first half to take a nine point lead. During that stretch the Miners didn't score for roughly seven minutes.
UTEP would get as close as one with 10:09 left in the second half but could never nudge ahead. The Mean Green instead went on a 7-0 run and held the Miners to just eight points in the last 10 minutes to get the win.
The Miners dominated the glass (37-23) and had both Shamar Givance (12 points) and Ze'Rik Onyema (11 points) score in double digits.
UTEP finished at 36.4 percent shooting (16-44), which was hindered by going 2-15 from beyond the arc. The Miners also had 17 turnovers while causing seven.
“I thought the turnovers were the biggest key,” Golding said. “We knew that coming in. They’re so efficient with the ball. We had to value the basketball because you don’t get a lot of possessions against them. They got 17 points off our turnovers, and I thought that was the difference in the game. We just have to do a better job of valuing the ball."
The Miners will continue the road stretch with Middle Tennessee on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT followed by WKU at 2 p.m. MT on Saturday. Both games will be carried nationally, with the game against the Blue Raiders airing on ESPNU while the match-up with the Toppers will be on Stadium.
