EL PASO, TEXAS – UTEP closed the first half with a 14-2 run on its way to an 84-71 win over Tulane on Wednesday at the Don Haskins Center.
The Miners (14-5) rose to 5-1 in Conference USA play with their fourth straight win and will take their shot at league-leading UAB (18-2, 6-0) on Saturday night in Birmingham. The game will be televised in El Paso in KVIA Channel-7 beginning at 6 p.m. MT.
UTEP, which never trailed, built a 37-23 cushion at the break and led by as many as 22 points in the second half. Tulane (6-13, 1-5) lost for the sixth time in seven games.
The Green Wave was playing without three injured players, most notably second-leading scorer Kevin Sims. UTEP was also short-handed as Derrick Caracter sat this one out.
“His knee has been bothering him, so we’re still waiting on some results,” UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. “He’s been in a lot of pain, lately, and played through a lot of pain on this road trip we just came back from. He’s got some more exams to find out exactly what it is or if there’s anything at all.”
Tulane shot 33 percent in the first half. The Green Wave was down 64-42 with just under nine minutes remaining in the game before outscoring the Miners 29-20 down the stretch.
“We played well enough down the stretch to keep them at bay,” Barbee said. “We still have to continue to get better in a lot of areas. We have to be more consistent throughout a 40-minute game. We guarded our tails off for about a 30-minute game. We just got content in the last 10 minutes. That cannot happen.”
Christian Polk and Jeremy Williams each scored 21 points to lead the Miners. The 21 points were a Division I high for Williams, who played his freshman season at Colorado. Randy Culpepper and Claude Britten chipped in with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
“I thought Claude played well,” Barbee said. “Anytime you’ve got a man down, somebody else has to step up … we have guys that are capable of stepping up.”
Julyan Stone pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds, just missing his first double-double with nine assists. Wayne Portalatin gave UTEP a hard-nosed 17 minutes off the bench, collecting three points, three boards and a career-best four blocks.
For the third straight game, the Miners shot a blistering percentage in the second half, hitting 17-of-29 shots (.586). UTEP finished at 53.7 percent for the night.
Kris Richard scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to pace Tulane.
