For the last month, the UTEP men’s basketball team has teased a turnaround. Over and over the Miners have approached the corner they are looking to turn.
At the most improbable moment, with their season all but toast, the Miners shot around that corner with the most stunning comeback of the year against their biggest rivals from New Mexico State. Down 11 with 5:00 to play, UTEP forced overtime in the final 5 seconds then hung on for a 91-88 victory in the extra period.
The Miners took charge of that fight for the 10th and last spot on the CUSA tournament by improving to 5-8 in league play. New Mexico State fell to 4-9.
UTEP forced overtime on a Kaseem Watson 3-pointer with 5 seconds left, the second improbable rally late in regulation. First the Miners charged back from 11 down with a 13-2 run to tie the score at 68-68 with 2:32 remaining on Caleb Blackwell’s 19-footer.
After Jemel Jones reestablished a four-point Aggie lead with two clutch jumpers, UTEP got a Jamal West Jr. free throw, a stop on a West block, then the big 3 from Watson to force overtime at 72-72.
UTEP had a 10-0 run early in overtime to go up 83-74, then had to weather a furious Aggie comeback attempt that finally ended when Jones rimmed out a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Miners down 7 at half
UTEP endured several cold spells in the first half, eventually going into the halftime locker room at 34% shooting that led to a 39-32 New Mexico State lead at the half.
The Aggies weren’t lighting it up offensively but they were better than the Miners, who early on were 1-of-7 from the field and later on were 7-of-26 before heating up a bit late. From a 16-16 tie nearing the midpoint of the first half, New Mexico State went on a quick 10-2 run and grew its lead to 35-21 before UTEP made a late push to cut that deficit in half.
West started the comeback with seven consecutive UTEP points sandwiched around three Aggie free throws. He went to half leading the Miners with eight points.
UTEP’s offensive problems were worst beyond the arc, as the Miners were 4-of-16 on 3s in the first half to NMSU’s 5-of-11.
Up next
The UTEP men head to Alabama to take on Jacksonville State, starting a stretch where four of the next five are on the road. The 5 p.m. MT tip will be streamed on ESPN+.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
