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University of Houston
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UTEP
Cougars Knocks Off UTEP For Third Straight Win
2/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2006
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HOUSTON - The UTEP Miners came to Houston, Texas fresh from a road victory over SMU in Dallas and sharing the conference lead with Memphis (5-0 C-USA); but left hurting after the Cougars put the bite on them on their way to scoring an impressive 63-57 victory in front of 4,241 fans at Hofheinz Arena.
Despite playing against one of the top front lines in Conference USA, Houston went to a smaller line-up as Houston head coach Tom Penders used his team's speed and quickness.
"Jahmar Thorpe was in foul trouble, so we went with the smaller line-up," Penders said. "If we had tried to walk it up the floor and let them bang the ball inside we would have been in even worse foul trouble. I will always give up rebounding for great defense and quickness."
On the offensive end, senior guard Chris Lawson also was able to get the Cougars rolling early taking the ball to the basket as came off the bench to hit his first three shots en route to scoring 12 points.
"They were easy lay-ups and who can't make those," said Lawson. "It was my job to take the ball inside and I tried to give the team a boost."
The first half of the game was like a race between two evenly matched thoroughbreds as the score was tied seven times and there were eight different lead changes until the Cougars put together a 13-2 run over the final 5:32 seconds to take a 31-24 lead into halftime.
Senior forward Ramon Dyer had the unenviable job of defending the UTEP big men and continued solid offensive play making 50 percent of his field goals to end the game with ten points and ten rebounds.
"I knew that coach (Penders) was going to try the smaller line-up and that would have me defending UTEP's big men," said Dyer. "I don't really care what position I play as long as I am out on the floor and contributing to my team."
After UH had only made just two of their previous 10 free throws, Oliver Lafayette clinched the victory when he nailed both of his pressure shots from the line with 14 seconds left to play. The free throws made the final score 63-57.
The victory improved Houston's overall record to 13-6 and 4-3 in C-USA play. The win also was the Cougars' third straight C-USA win and the team's ninth victory in their last 12 games.
UTEP fell to 12-6 overall and the Cougars handed the Miners their first loss as a member of Conference USA. UTEP is 5-1 in league play this season. The two teams meet again in El Paso, Texas on February 25.
Houston travels to Greenville, N.C. for a game at East Carolina next Saturday, February 4. Tip-off against the Pirates inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum is slated for 4p.m.
The Cougars close out their non-conference schedule at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on February 7, and return home to Hofeinz Pavilion on Saturday, February 11 when they play host to SMU in a C-USA game. THe SMU game tips off at 7:00 p.m.
