Miners wilt at end against Alcorn St.
Bill Knight
El Paso Times
It all sort of went flat in the final nine minutes, as if the air scooted out of UTEP, out of the Don Haskins Center and out into the chill desert night air.
Alcorn State went on an 18-7 run over the final nine minutes, leaving the Miners in its wake and taking a 67-53 victory in front of 5,587 fans -- fans who grew more quiet with the passing of each of those final nine minutes.
The Braves, playing without leading scorer and rebounder Lee Cook (because of rules violations), still outrebounded UTEP 37-29 and, most importantly, 14-8 on the offensive glass.
"We played with great intensity the last two days in practice," UTEP coach Billy Gillispie said. "For some reason, that wasn't there tonight. I might have practiced them too long the day before a game. Even when we got a lead early, we weren't playing as hard as we needed to be playing."
And UTEP did have an early lead, scooting out to an 8-0 cushion, a 13-4 lead, a 23-16 margin before backsliding. Alcorn State led 33-28 at the half. Still, the Miners trailed just 49-46 with nine minutes to play. Then it all went flat.
"We played hard, but we kind of laid down down the stretch," said Darius Mattear, who had six points and seven rebounds. "We didn't have enough heart. Well, not really no heart, but we just didn't fight back the way they did when they got down. We didn't retaliate like they did."
John Tofi, who had 14 points and six rebounds, said, "It's like Darius said. We didn't step up to the challenge at the end. And a lot of that was because we didn't beat them on the glass."
ALCORN ST. 67 UTEP 53
Bill Knight
El Paso Times
It all sort of went flat in the final nine minutes, as if the air scooted out of UTEP, out of the Don Haskins Center and out into the chill desert night air.
Alcorn State went on an 18-7 run over the final nine minutes, leaving the Miners in its wake and taking a 67-53 victory in front of 5,587 fans -- fans who grew more quiet with the passing of each of those final nine minutes.
The Braves, playing without leading scorer and rebounder Lee Cook (because of rules violations), still outrebounded UTEP 37-29 and, most importantly, 14-8 on the offensive glass.
"We played with great intensity the last two days in practice," UTEP coach Billy Gillispie said. "For some reason, that wasn't there tonight. I might have practiced them too long the day before a game. Even when we got a lead early, we weren't playing as hard as we needed to be playing."
And UTEP did have an early lead, scooting out to an 8-0 cushion, a 13-4 lead, a 23-16 margin before backsliding. Alcorn State led 33-28 at the half. Still, the Miners trailed just 49-46 with nine minutes to play. Then it all went flat.
"We played hard, but we kind of laid down down the stretch," said Darius Mattear, who had six points and seven rebounds. "We didn't have enough heart. Well, not really no heart, but we just didn't fight back the way they did when they got down. We didn't retaliate like they did."
John Tofi, who had 14 points and six rebounds, said, "It's like Darius said. We didn't step up to the challenge at the end. And a lot of that was because we didn't beat them on the glass."
ALCORN ST. 67 UTEP 53
