Bohannon's only points outlast Tulane in overtime

Despite sophomore center John Bohannon not being able to score in regulation, one of the best scorers on the team was still able to come in the clutch. Bohannon scored all five of his points in the last two plays in overtime and the Miners avenged their loss to Tulane from earlier in the season, 54-52 Feb. 11 at the Don Haskins Center.

"We played a team that has given up fewer points than anyone else in our league and the best defensive field goal percentage in our league," head coach Tim Floyd said. "Our biggest fear going in was our offense and how we would score."

Bohannon, averaging over 17 points the last seven games, scored off an assist from junior guard Jacques Streeter for an easy dunk off an inbounds with 54 seconds remaining to put UTEP on top 51-50.

Twenty-six seconds later, freshman guard Ricky Tarrant scored two of his game-high 19 points, with all those also coming after halftime, off a pair of free throws to regain the lead for Tulane.

Bohannon's final points were the most critical when he went up strong in the post with 14 seconds left in overtime, which turned into a three-point play after being fouled to put the Miners ahead for the final score.

"They had trust in me and just kept coming to me. We played a Tulane team that guards real good. They are a really solid defensive team," Bohannon said. "That is what coach Floyd preaches is the next play: you got to get down there and play defense. That is all that was on my mind."

Tulane still had a chance to win but junior guard Jordan Callahan missed a shot from the perimeter with three seconds left.

"We have played smart late, but we have not played great late and there is a difference," Floyd said. "Our perimeter guys have not been able to create a play so tonight we went to the block with Bo late in the game twice."

Tarrant, arguably the front-runner for Conference USA Freshman of the Year, was shut down by freshman forward Julian Washburn's pressure defense in the first half. Washburn found himself in foul trouble in the second half and fouled out after playing just six minutes in the final stint.

"I believe that Washburn picking up his quick fourth foul influenced the game because of our inability to defend Tarrant who had 19 in the second half and zero at halftime," Floyd said. "We didn't quite have an answer for him."

Perez was the only Miner to finish in double figures with 15 points.

"We definitely needed that win after losing six close tough games," senior forward Gabriel McCulley said. "They are a well defensive coached team and they make you score from the outside."

UTEP had a rough time from the field shooting only 34.6 for the game including 27.3 in the first half. The Miners were able to take advantage of the mistakes by Tulane, scoring 22 points off turnovers.

"We know we are becoming a good team when we can go out and shoot 35 percent and go out and win," Floyd said. "We are still growing and still learning. It was the first time we had to play that combination out there with our two big's and McCulley. It changed us and made us plain vanilla offensively because we couldn't run a lot of the actions we normally do."

The Miners will now travel Feb. 18 to Memphis where they are still searching for their first road win of the season.

"We will now take this on the road and see if we can go win a game on the road," Floyd said. "Hopefully we will but we got a tough challenge with Memphis. I don't think anybody in our league has gone there and won yet."

The Tigers are 5-0 at home in C-USA and 13-1 overall at the FedEx Forum. The only home loss came to former-No. 7 Murray State, with just one loss all season.

Frankie Rodriguez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.