The UTEP Miners Men’s Basketball Team came from a dismal Wednesday defeat to obtain their fourth win of the season defeating the Florida A&M Rattlers 67-53.
UTEP overcame a slow offensive start to come out victorious on Thanksgiving Eve, gradually improving their offensive execution as the game progressed, improving in all areas of their game when compared to Wednesday’s performance against UC-Riverside.
The Miners will now enjoy a break over the Thanksgiving holiday before they play a total of seven games in the month of December starting next Friday.
Here’s what happened
- Both teams got off to an extremely slow start offensively as the score was 0-0 when the first media timeout came at the 14:54 mark. The first points of the game came after said media time out when Bonke Maring hit a pair of free throws. UTEP went on to make the next nine points to take an 11-0 lead.
- The Miners went into halftime with a 30-25 lead after the opening half became an entertaining competitive game in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Jorell Saterfield was the main spark for the home team coming off the bench. Saterfield played 13 minutes, scoring eight points and two rebounds. More than a solid contribution by the role player.
- The second half starters would be the same as the first half (Tydus Verhoeven, Keonte Kennedy, Jamari Sibley and Jamal Bieniemy) with the exception of Saterfield who started for Emmanuel White.
- MJ Randolph fouled out for Florida A&M with less than three minutes to go in the game. One play later Saterfield came off the court to end his action for the night as he fouled out. The transfer sophomore played a total of 29 minutes. He had a total of 14 points, five rebounds and two assist.
- The visiting Rattlers would close by as little as one point but were not able to take the lead at any point in the contest. The Miners did a more than efficient job taking the lead over the course of the second half, leading by as many as 14 points and then closing out the game with relative ease.
What was said
After the game Jamal Bieniemy and Jorell Staterfield address the media. Bieniemy said, “We made more plays tonight and capitalized on more opportunities, fast breaks and half court we ran plays.”
For UTEP head coach Joe Golding it was all about “If we’re gonna shoot the ball as bad as we did on Monday we have to find different ways to win the game. You need to go get on the offensive glass and rebound the ball. Proud of the growth Jorell and Sibley played with more confidence. I though ‘JB’ (Bieniemy) was special, trusted his teammates, got them involved and had the ball in his hands all night.”
As for going to only seven players in the second half, Golding said, “It developed as the game went on, here’s our deal we’re still trying to figure out our team”.
What’s next for the Miners
The Miners will now take a nine day break in action and prepare to host their biggest rival, the New Mexico State Aggies on Friday, December 3. This latest edition of the “Battle of I-10” is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
The game will be televised on Stadium network and broadcast on radio on 600am ESPN El Paso
For all things UTEP Miners, click here; for our complete coverage of UTEP, click here.
Author: Joe Rodriguez
Rodriguez is a life long El Pasoan. Joe has covered sports locally across the Borderland since 2007 for various media outlet both in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez as a personal passion as he is a professional in the world of healthcare (Physiatry). His favorite sports include soccer, auto racing, golf and horse racing.”
