SAN ANTONIO – Darius McNeill had a season-best 20 points but an early 13-0 run fueled UTEP to a 59-54 win over UTSA men's basketball on Sunday at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (7-13, 0-7 Conference USA) couldn't overcome a 13-0 run by UTEP (11-8, 4-3 C-USA) in the opening minutes as the Miners were able to extend to a 13-point lead with 11 minutes left in the first. The Roadrunners rallied midway through the second half, using a 13-2 run to cut the lead to one possession but the Miners spurted back to regain a double-digit advantage with four minutes left.
The Roadrunners, who outscored UTEP 34-29 in the second half after facing a 10-point halftime hole, narrowed the lead to four with 24 seconds left but the Miners were able to hold off the charge to secure the win.
The win for the Miners came three days removed from a thriller that saw UTSA narrowly miss a chance at the upset despite playing with six scholarship student-athletes in El Paso.
The Roadrunners returned two players and one scholarship athlete from the COVID-19 Health & Safety Protocols and played the contest with seven scholarship student-athletes and nine total seeing action.
The Roadrunners were led by McNeill, a native of Houston, who followed up his season-high 19-point outburst on Thursday with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes.
Jacob Germany, a junior center out of Kingston, Okla., had six. Phoenix Ford and Lachlan Bofinger each chipped in six points.
The Roadrunners shot 34.5 percent, while UTEP finished shooting 40.4. The rebounding battle was won by the Roadrunners, 38-35.
The Miners were led by Jorell Saterfield, who two days after sinking six 3-pointers against the Roadrunners, had 15 points and six rebounds, sinking five 3-pointers.
Souley Boum, a transfer from San Francisco who entered the game owning 19.1 points per game, had 11 and Oklahoma transfer Jamal Bieniemy had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
The Roadrunners will return to action on Thursday, hosting FIU at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
Saterfield opened the scoring for UTEP with a 3-pointer before Germany sank a midrange jumper and McNeill secured a steal and finished on the other end of a 4-3 lead. An and-1 took the UTEP lead to 6-4 before Germany finished a ball off the glass in the paint. The Miners then ripped off 13 straight points to take a 19-6 lead.
Josh Farmer snapped the streak with a banked-in shot from midrange and finished a floater to cut the lead to 19-10. After a UTEP basket, Germany cleaned up the offensive glass to cut the lead to 21-12. The Miners sank a 3-pointer by Boum to gain a 12-point lead before McNeill knifed through traffic in the lane to cut the lead to 24-14 with four minutes left.
Ford, making his first start of the year and the third of his 49-game UTSA career, cut the lead to 24-16 with a paint bucket. Bofinger answered a Saterfield 3-pointer with a basket at the rim to narrow the lead to 27-18.
McNeill cut the lead to 30-20 with a midrange jumper, taking the game to half with a 10-point margin. UTSA shot 32 percent in the first half and UTEP was held to a 39-percent clip, owning assists on nine of its 11 buckets. The Roadrunners trailed the Miners in rebounds, 20-18. McNeill and Germany each had six points to lead UTSA, while UTEP was led by Saterfield's 12.
Ford got UTSA on the board to open the second-half scoring but Georgetown transfer Jamari Sibley answered with a corner 3-pointer and Tydus Verhoeven took the lead to 35-22. McNeill snapped a 6-0 UTEP run with the back-half of a trip to the line, cutting the lead to 35-23 but Saterfield regained a 15-point lead with a corner trey.
Lamin Sabally got UTSA on the board with the first triple of the game from the Roadrunners to cut the lead to 12 and after a Boum layup, Isaiah Addo-Ankrah drilled a triple to cut the lead to 11. Bieniemy responded with a jumper to take the lead to 42-29 at the first media timeout of the second stanza.
The Roadrunners got a basket from Bofinger and a pair at the line from McNeill to cut the lead to 42-35 with just under 11 minutes left. Christian Tucker drew a foul on a drive to the basket and hit one at the line to cut the lead to six.
Ford cut the lead to four with a paint basket and McNeill hit two at the line to stretch the run to 11-0 and cut the UTEP lead to 42-40 with 8:30 left. Verhoeven finished a hook shot to regain a two-possession lead on the following possession.
McNeill shook a defender off the dribble and finished at the rim to narrow the lead to 44-42 at the under-eight minute media timeout. It was part of a 13-2 run to cut the advantage.
Bieniemy snapped the UTSA run with a free-throw line jumper to gain a 47-42 lead. After. Tucker free throw, Bieniemy drilled a top of the key triple to gain a 50-43 lead with 5:21 left, prompting a timeout from UTSA Coach Steve Henson.
Boum took the lead to 53-43 with a wing 3-pointer out of the break and McNeill finished an and-1 to narrow the lead to eight with three minutes left.
McNeill cut the lead to four with 24 seconds left with a hard drive to the rim and after a foul, Boum, hit two at the line for a six-point lead. Tucker was fouled on a drive to the basket with 13.5 seconds left and made one at the line for a 57-52 margin. UTSA's 3-point attempt after getting a steal missed and Bienemy finished off the win with two at the line for a 59-52 lead with 5.4 seconds left.
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