The UTEP Miners (13-4, 3-1 CUSA) picked up a key road win in conference play on Thursday night, defeating the Liberty Flames (14-4, 2-3), 72-70.
“Hats off to UTEP,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “Tough team. They are hard to play against. Thought it was a really good college basketball team, disappointed in the outcome obviously, that’s going to be most nights in Conference USA.”
It was a wild and furious final few sequences in the game. The Miners grabbed a 70-65 lead with 40 seconds remaining following a three-pointer by Ahamad Bynum. Colin Porter would answer, getting in the paint and drawing a foul before knocking down both of his free throws to cut the lead to 3 with 36 seconds left. UTEP then had a turnover with a bad pass by Corey Camper.
After a timeout and several substitutions, McKay opted to put Brett Decker on the floor. The true freshman only played 3 minutes on the night, but he would come through for his team, drilling a three-pointer from the wing with 11 seconds left to tie it at 70.
There was then some confusion, with Coach McKay trying to call a timeout but the referees not awarding it to him as the Miners quickly inbounded the ball. They moved down the court and Bynum got free in the corner and he would knock down the game-winning shot with 2.9 seconds remaining.
“I called timeout and the referee said I didn’t call it in time.Our staff seemed to think I did, but they didn’t give it to us. The guy hit a tough shot, but he’s a tough shot-maker.”
Liberty had one final opportunity, getting the ball to Taelon Peter who was able to get into the paint. He missed his shot but it wouldn’t have counted anyway as it came after the final buzzer sounded.
The Miners grabbed the lead in the opening minutes and pushed it to as many as 7 at 16-9 by the second media timeout of the game. The Flames struggled to find consistency and a rhythm on offense in the early going.
That changed when Kaden Metheny scored 12 straight from Liberty during a 18-5 run that spanned over four minutes, letting the home team grab their first lead of the game and grow it to six at 27-21. Metheny struggled in the two games last week, scoring just three points in Saturday’s loss at Louisiana Tech with 9 points in the win at Sam Houston. He was 3 of 11 from three in those two games, but Metheny made that many triples during this first half run.
UTEP wouldn’t let Liberty extend the lead as they closed the half on a 5-0 run to tie it at 31 entering the break. Metheny led the Flames with 14 first half points while Owen Aquino added 6.
After halftime, there would be four ties and four lead changes in the first six minutes. Liberty would then try to take control as they grabbed the lead behind Peter’s second half scoring. His three with 11:38 on the clock gave the Flames a six point lead at 51-45. The Miners would answer with an 8-2 run to tie it once again. The Miners would then swing in front heading towards the e final media timeout.
Liberty would reclaim the lead on a Colin Porter three-pointer with four minutes remaining and then helped the lead extend to three as he could Zach Cleveland in the paint to push the advantage to three at 64-61 at the 3:15 mark. The Flames would not make another field goal until Decker’s three in the closing seconds.
“They are a good team,” McKay said. “They made some shots. I don’t think we played poor defense, it’s a good college basketball team.”
Taelon Peter led the Flames in scoring with 20, making 6 of 11 shots, 3 of 6 from three and all 5 of his free throws. He scored 17 of his points in the second half. Kaden Metheny finished the night with 17 points, scoring 14 of his points in the second half.
Owen Aquino added 9 points, 5 assists, and 7 rebounds while Colin Porter had 8 points. Zach Cleveland and Jayvon Maughmer struggled offensively, finishing a combined 4 for 16 from the field, 1 for 7 from 3, 1 for 3 from the free throw line and combining for 10 points. Gabriel McKay was solid off the bench in 10 minutes of action. He knocked down a big three-pointer and played solid defense.
As a team, the Flames shot 46.2% from the field, 39.3% from three and made 11 of 17 free throws (64.7%).
“I thought we did a pretty good job of managing our minutes tonight,” McKay said. “We had some uncharacteristic games from some of our guys that logged a lot of minutes, but that happens during the course of the season.”
Liberty plays again on Saturday night back at Liberty Arena. The Flames take on New Mexico State in a game that is scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The Aggies are currently 11-6 overall and 4-0 in conference play, sitting alone in first place in the league standings following their 59-52 win over FIU in Miami on Thursday as the Flames will be looking to bounce back from its first two-game losing streak this season.
“They played well,” said McKay of UTEP. “We’re playing really good people. We’re not far away. I know everyone is used to us being on top of the standings and winning every game. I told our guys in the locker room, ‘We are 98-10 now in here in the last six and a half years.’ We still have a lot of season, a lot of good things ahead of us.”
