UTEP rides big second half to defeat Houston

Freshman forward Julian Washburn christened his new jersey in a big way. Wearing No. 4 for the first time all season after changing from no. 10 in honor of Tim Hardaway's jersey retirement, Washburn tied a career-high with 19 points in a 70-50 Miner victory over the Houston Cougars Jan. 7 at the Don Haskins Center.

"I just felt energized today. I felt that we needed the win because we lost the first conference game (Jan. 4 at Marshall) and I just came out with a lot of energy and I wanted to play like that the whole game," Washburn said.

With the game tied at 35, UTEP jumped out to their largest lead of the game when they went on a 15-4 run. After Houston's freshman guard J.J. Thompson hit a three to stop the run, the Miners scored the game's next seven points off a jumper by Washburn. The margin never fell below double digits from that point and UTEP cruised to their third-consecutive victory over the Cougars.

Following a closely fought first half in which Houston shot 61.9 percent and the Miners shot 56, UTEP turned the tide in the second half. The Miners shot 66.7 percent from the field to cumulate a 61.2 average for the game and held Houston to 27.6 percent in the second half. The Cougars shot 42 percent for the game and 42.9 from three-point range.

Senior forward Gabriel McCulley finished with a career-high 22 points and freshman center John Bohannon had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The team outrebounded Houston 35-20 and outscored them 34-20 in the paint.

"I think it was a pretty good game as an overall team but I think we kind of put everything together. I'd say this was a really good team win," Bohannon said.

Both teams exchanged baskets early on, which translated into the high-percentage shooting first half.  There were four ties and nine lead changes in the opening frame with the Miners taking the first major run of the game.

They turned a 14-14 tie into a 23-16 lead but the Cougars responded with a 12-2 run of their own. Freshman guard Joseph Young had seven of his 10 first half points during the run as he finished with a team-high 14 points. UTEP had the final say in the first half, scoring eight of the last 11 points to take a 33-31 lead.

At halftime, Hardaway's number was retired and will join three other jerseys in the Don Haskin Center's rafters: Nolan Richardson's 42, Jim Barnes' 45 and Nate Archibald's 14. The team did not see the ceremony as they were in the locker room but they said they did not want to let him and the 8,327 fans in the stadium down.

"You couldn't buy all the marketing Tim bought us all those years in the NBA and his number's retired with the Heat so the time was coming for that to happen," head coach Tim Floyd said.

Sophomore guard Michael Perez missed the game after suffering an ankle injury on his left leg. He said he is still nursing a thigh injury, which only aggravated both and forced him to miss the game. Floyd said his status is unknown for UTEP's next game.

The Miners will now turn their attention to Tulsa Golden Hurricanes Jan. 11 on the road, a team that fell to the Cougars 70-69 in overtime Jan. 4 in Houston.

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