UTEP men’s basketball shows toughness in road win against UC Santa Barbara

The UTEP men’s basketball team did something it hasn’t often done in recent years. The Miners pulled out a tough win on the road at Cal-Santa Barbara, turning back a number of charges in an 79-76 victory against a Gauchos team that came in 4-0.

UTEP improved to 3-1 with its first victory of the year against a Division I team and came within a game of matching its road win total from last year, when it was 2-9 in true road contests. The Miners broke a nine-game non-conference road losing streak dating back to 2021.

UTEP guard Ahamad Bynum celebrates one of his 3-pointers against UC Santa Barbara Wednesday night at Santa Barbara

More: CUSA men’s basketball standings

“I’m proud of our group. They really battled this week in practice,” coach Joe Golding said on the postgame radio show. “I told them in the locker room, that’s UTEP basketball. Defense travels. Toughness travels. I thought there was no question we were the tougher team.

“Our kids played extremely hard. I’m really, really proud of them. We got off to a better start and got some confidence.”

With a minute to go UCSB had a 22-10 advantage in free-throw attempts as David Terrell and Derek Hamilton fouled out while Kevin Kalu and Trey Horton finished with four fouls each, but UTEP powered through the adversity.

Otis Frazier

The Miners never trailed, were up 12-2 early and led by as many as 15 points in the first half. The only time in the last 37 minutes UCSB got within a possession was when it made a 3-pointer at the buzzer after Devon Barnes had secured the game with a pair of free throws with four seconds to play.

The Miners held the Gauchos at bay until the final two minutes when they cut a nine-point lead to four, but UTEP took care of the ball and made a few free throws late, something else it hasn’t always done recently.

Barnes led UTEP with 23 points and Otis Frazier scored with 21 points with a key late block. Just as key was Ahamad Bynum, who made 5-of-7 3-pointers off the bench for 15 points. Corey Camper added 13…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/utep-mens-basketball-shows-toughness-132912451.html

Author : The El Paso Times

Publish date : 2024-11-21 13:29:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.