Tulsa
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UTEP
UTEP Squeaks by Tulsa, 65-61
1/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2008
Box Score |
AP Gallery 
EL PASO, Texas -- Miners' Stefon Jackson scored 29 points and hit the go-ahead jumper with 5:26 remaining in UTEP's 65-61 victory against Tulsa on Saturday night.
Jerome Jordan led Tulsa with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and Earls had 15 points and four assists. Earls was 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Jordan was also Tulsa's team-leader with seven rebounds and five blocked shots.
Marvin Kilgore had 11 points and seven assists with just one turnover for UTEP.
Jackson broke the last of nine ties on a bucket that gave UTEP (12-6, 3-2 Conference USA) a 57-55 lead. A Jackson free throw on the Miners' next possession, followed by a basket from Tavaris Watts pushed the lead to 60-55 with 4:04 remaining.
The Golden Hurricane (9-8, 1-4) pulled within two with 22 seconds left on a four-point play by Rod Earls, who made a 3-pointer and was fouled by Victor Ramalho. Tulsa fouled Jackson immediately on the inbounds play, but Jackson hit both free throws for a 65-61 UTEP lead. Jackson was 13-of-17 from the line.
In the second half, Tulsa missed both free throws on four two-shot fouls as the Hurricane converted just 5-of-15 free throws in the second half, after going 6-of-7 in the first half.
Tulsa went into halftime with a 30-29 lead as the Hurricane out-scored the Miners 7 to 3 over the final 2:39 of the first half.
The Miners led by as many as nine points in the first half with a 16-7 lead at the 10:21 mark. The Hurricane kept whittling down the lead and got it to one point, 22-21 with 4:48 left before intermission. Two minutes later, Tulsa tied the score and took the lead on two Ray Reese free throws at 27-26.
A three-pointer by Earls put the Hurricane up by three points, 30-27, but with a minute left on the first-half clock UTEP's Kilgore made it 30-29 on a jumper, which was the score when the clock hit 0:00.
The loss was the first for the Hurricane when leading at halftime and also when out-rebounding the opponent. Tulsa is now 7-1 while leading at halftime, and 9-1 when out-rebounding the opposition.
Tulsa will be back on the road Wednesday for a 6:00 pm (CT) tip-off against the Marshall Thundering Herd in Huntington, West Virginia.
