Miners defeat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in final tune up before C-USA play

The Miners combated one career-high scorer with one of their own as they won the consolation game of the Sun Bowl Invitational 79-58 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff Dec. 29 at the Don Haskins Center.

UTEP's freshman forward Cedrick Lang finished with a career and team-high 22 points, topping his previous career high by the end of the first half. Lang also finished 100 percent from the field hitting all nine of his shots, a feat that hasn't been achieved since 1994.

"It's a good thing, it's an honor. It's something that wouldn't have happened if my teammates weren't moving the ball so well tonight," Lang said.

On the other end, it was sophomore forward Daniel Broughton who doubled his season average by halftime, finishing the game with 30 points.

After playing a game the previous night, a 56-53 loss to Colorado State, the Miners did not scout personnel even though they were able to hold the Lions' leading scorer, senior guard Savalace Townsend, to three points. Where the Miners held the advantage was in the paint, however, outscoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff 42-8 and 13-4 on second-chance opportunities.

"It was a game that we didn't do any preparation at all before, just worked on ourselves," head coach Tim Floyd said. "Our big guys obviously had an advantage based on size, strength advantage and were able to capitalize around the basket."

The win may have come with a big hit to the Miners' already battered health. Lang left the game with about eight minutes to go with a dislocated finger on his right hand and a deep laceration that may require stitches according to Floyd. The Miners are already missing freshman forward Hooper Vint with a bulging disc in his back and junior forward Malcolm Moore with a season-ending knee injury.

"I don't feel pressured I just feel it's an opportunity to step up and just show what we're really made of," sophomore center John Bohannon said. "We know we're going to get extended minutes since the other big guys are injured so we just have to step up and just do what we know we can do."

Freshman forward Julian Washburn did not play as Floyd said his sprained right shoulder was still agitating him. Sophomore guard and leading scorer Michael Perez suffered a thigh injury when he took a knee to it during the second half. Floyd was unsure on his status following the game.

Only three players scored for Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the first half and were led by Broughton's 21 points, who was averaging 7.8 prior to the game. Junior guard Mitchell Anderson and Austin Allen were the other players who scored in the opening half with eight and five points, respectively.

UTEP shot 71.4 percent from the field in the first half and were led by Lang, who had a career-high 13 points at halftime. His first four points helped the Miners jump to a 7-0 lead and his eighth sparked a 17-2 run that put UTEP up for good at 39-25. The Miners led 47-34 at the end of the first half.

UTEP will now turn their attention to Conference-USA play when they take on Marshall Jan. 4 in Huntington, West Virginia.

William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.