EL PASO, Texas – A season-high 21 turnovers sunk UTSA, as the Roadrunners fell on the road to UTEP, 69-57 at the Don Haskins Center on Wednesday evening.
UTSA (7-10, 1-5 C-USA) got off to a blazing start, leading by 14, 19-5, eight minutes into the game. It didn't stick though as the UTEP defense started forcing turnovers as it crept back into the game. The Miners (9-7, 2-3 C-USA) snapped a four-game losing streak and forced UTSA into a season-high 21 turnovers as they moved to 9-2 at home.
UTSA got season-highs from both John Buggs III and Lachlan Bofinger as a part of tonight's action. Buggs played a huge role in UTSA's scorching start as the JUCO transfer had an early 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field to go along with three triples. It's the second time this season Buggs has gone for 20+ points. Bofinger had six points and three rebounds as a part of his season-high scoring performance. DJ Richards joined Buggs in the double-digit scoring column as the rookie out of Houston had 10 points and was tied for the team-high in rebounds with seven. The player Richards was tied with was Jacob Germany who went for seven points to go along with his seven boards. Germany also had a season-high three assists on the evening. The Miner defense did a good job keeping dynamo point guard Japhet Medor in check as he had just four points and fouled out of the contest.
The Rundown
UTSA raced out to a 19-5 lead in the early portion of the game, powered by Buggs' 13 points. Following its largest lead, UTEP called timeout to reassess and came back with a plan. The Miners began to ramp up their ball pressure, forcing bad passes and causing live ball turnovers. The Miners were able to string together multiple stops to go along with baskets on the other end to rally and go into halftime with a 30-27 lead. In the final 12 minutes of the first half, UTEP outscored UTSA 25-8. At the break, Buggs had 15 points while Medor, Germany and Bofinger each had four.
UTEP kept up the suffocating defense in the second half, extending its lead to nine just two minutes into the period. The two teams traded baskets with neither team making any headway for the majority of the second half as UTEP was able to stay comfortably in front. UTSA was able to stack stops though towards the end of the second half as a Richards and-one layup and a Josh Farmer stepback jumper pulled the Roadrunners within two, 57-55, with three minutes left to play in the half. UTEP's defense ratcheted up one last time in the final three minutes, allowing just two more Roadrunner points and scoring 12 of its own to go on to win the game by a score of 69-57.
Stat of the Game
The biggest factor in today's contest was turnovers and points off turnovers. The Miners turned UTSA over 21 times on the evening which they converted into 35 points. Conversely, UTEP only turned the ball over 14 times and the Roadrunners were only able to score nine points off those 14 turnovers.
Up Next
Following its game against UTEP in El Paso, UTSA will continue its road trip as it heads east to the Queen City to face the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on Ticket 760 AM.
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