UTEP beats St. Francis 54-52
Miners hangon, move to 2-0

Box Score

UTEP built a 12-point second half lead before holding off a late rally by St. Francis (N.Y.) on Saturday, winning 54-52 in a BCA Invitational game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
The Miners improved to 2-0 with their second straight nail-biting victory. UTEP beat 2006 NCAA Tournament participant Penn, 69-66, in the tournament on Friday.

UTEP will face 20th-ranked Syracuse on Sunday at 4 p.m. MST. The game will be televised in El Paso on Time Warner Cable MetroSports Southwest Channel 24.

The Miners grinded out the victory on Saturday despite going the final 7:55 without scoring a field goal.

"I thought we played well," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "We're a young and inexperienced team, and with 10 minutes to go we got a little timid instead of attacking. We've got to develop a killer instinct. We played to hold on instead of playing to put them away."

UTEP led by as many as 11 points in the first half, and was ahead 47-35 with 12:39 remaining when Marvin Kilgore scored on a breakaway dunk. The Miners enjoyed a 51-41 cushion with 9:37 to play, but went cold down the stretch.

After St. Francis (0-2) scored the next five points to slice its deficit in half, Stefon Jackson nailed a jumper with 7:56 left, lifting UTEP into a 53-46 lead.

But the Miners scored only one point the rest of the way, on a free throw by Kilgore with 5:38 to go.

The Terriers continued to chip away, closing the gap to two points (54-52) on a pair of free throws by John Gooden with 48 seconds remaining. St. Francis had the ball with a chance to win in the final seconds, but Jamaal Womack misfired on a three-point attempt and the Miners survived.

The Terriers were 0-for-6 from beyond the arc on the night.

UTEP shot 43.8 percent in the first half and led 37-31 at the intermission. The Miners scored 17 second half points, shooting 26.7 percent following the break.

Kilgore led UTEP with 15 points. Kevin Henderson added 13 in 33 minutes off the bench, and Jackson scored 10 points.

The Miners were in heavy foul trouble all night. Victor Ramalho played only 14 minutes before fouling out, and three other UTEP players (Jeremy Sampson, Darren Clarke, Maurice Thomas) ended the night with four fouls. The Miners committed 23 personals and were outshot 17-10 at the charity stripe by the Terriers.

Junior guard Pearson Smith, making his first appearance of the season for the Miners, was an unsung hero with three rebounds and a steal while playing 10 minutes. He was on the floor for seven minutes in the second half when the Miner big men were sidelined with fouls.

"Pearson is a hard-nosed kid who does everything he's supposed to do," Barbee said. "He doesn't make mistakes and he doesn't force the action, and he had three big rebounds."

Robert Hines led St. Francis with 20 points.

Barbee said his team needs to find more offensive punch inside.

"We can't continue to throw it in the blocks without scoring and without getting fouled," he said.

Syracuse, which has been to 31 NCAA Tournaments, figures to pose a major challenge on Sunday.

"Syracuse is as good as any team in the country," Barbee said. "They have size and experience, and they play four feet above the rim."

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