The UTEP Miners (10-8, C-USA 1-2) took a well-earned win over Middle Tennessee State University (6-12, C-USA 0-3), ending the game with a final score of 73-59. UTEP kept the lead through the whole game, never letting up on the Blue Raiders.
The game began with a tip-off by MTSU junior forward Jared Coleman-Jones and UTEP junior forward Kevin Kalu. UTEP earned the first possession of the game and narrowly escaped an early score by MTSU as junior guard Justin Bufford missed both of his free throws after being fouled on by Kalu.
The Miners had a steady climb in scoring during the first quarter, but MTSU soared with a string of points that eventually led them to trail behind the Miners by only a point (24-23). Coleman-Jones scored a jump shot, with the result of a turnover in the paint, putting MTSU close to the Miners.
Following a UTEP timeout, the Miners shut MTSU down for the remainder of the first half, ending with a nine-point lead at the end of the half (34-25). This was following a string of 10 points scored, achieved with only 49 seconds remaining in the first half.
The second half proved to be the more challenging of the two, as MTSU managed to match the Miners’ points scored in the first half with 34. However, the Miners still outscored MTSU by two with 39.
This game proved to be a good win for the Miners, as they begin to make their way further into the C-USA season. Head coach Joe Golding is preparing for their next opponent, Western Kentucky University (WKU) (13-5, C-USA 2-2), as they come off of a recent loss against NMSU (8-10, C-USA 2-1).
“I don’t think [the loss] affects us either way, we’re worried about ourselves,” Golding said. “We’ll start tonight working on Western Kentucky, get up tomorrow, try to prepare and give our guys a better gameplan for it, but we got a ton of respect for Western Kentucky.”
Golding expresses the importance of winning a home game for the team ahead of their match with Western Kentucky.
“They’ll come in here mad…the team, this whole thing is protecting home court. You got to win at home, so it’s another opportunity for us to play a home game, and we’re going to have to bring it.”
UTEP forward Otis Frazier III was a major player in the game, as he scored almost 10 points in the first five minutes of the second half and tied the program record of eight steals in a single game.
“I feel like we’ve been lackadaisical all season. The second half started off, the first four minutes were the most important to us, so we came out ready to play the second half,” Frazier said.
After their loss against Florida International University in Miami, this win proves to play a crucial part in the team’s morale as the team continues to learn from their losses, something senior guard Tae Hardy expressed.
“You live and learn, I don’t feel like any game is a loss if you learn something, so we just learn to keep leads, sustain the effort for 40 minutes,” Hardy said. “That’s just something that we try to practice throughout the practice we have and try to bring it to the games.”
UTEP will be facing off against WKU Jan. 20, at the Don at 7:00 p.m. in their fourth game of the C-USA season.
Nicholas Maes is the sports editor and may reached at
