HUNTSVILLE — Sam Houston looked unstoppable for a spell Wednesday at Bowers Stadium, in the end, its first win of the season eluded it again.
UTEP scored 21 unanswered points to rally from 14 down for a 37-34 victory over the Bearkats in Conference USA action. The Miners (3-6, 2-3 CUSA) split the uprights from 32-yards out to win it in the closing seconds.
The Kats fell to 0-8 overall and 0-5 in league play as they dropped their fourth game of the season by less than one score. Sam Houston will try to notch its first win next week when it wraps up a three-game homestand with Kennesaw State on Nov. 4 at noon.
The first drive of the game didn't produce much for the Bearkats, but once they got rolling, that changed in a hurry.
Sam Houston scored on their three other drives of the first half to take a 21-13 lead into the break. The offense had no trouble moving the ball through the air (154 yards passing) and on the ground (76 yards rushing) while chewing up the clock with drives of 65, 75 and 65 yards that took off almost 12 minutes.
The Kats grabbed the lead on their second possession when running back
John Gentry broke free and tip toed down the left side line for a 26-yard touchdown run. It was his first rushing touchdown of the season.
The Miners matched it on the ensuing possession only to see Sam Houston march back down the field to retake the lead.
The Bearkats reached the UTEP 26-yard line when their drive stalled, and they had to settle for a 44-yard field goal by
Colby Sessums. A running into the kicker play gave Sam Houston enough yards for the first down and
Keegan Shoemaker, who has thrown at least two touchdown passes in each CUSA game, found Gentry for an 18-yard scoring reception to make it 14-7 with 9:52 to go in the second quarter.
The Miners failed to find the end zone when they got the ball back but managed a 23-yard field goal to make it 14-10.
The Kats methodically went back to work and moved deep into UTEP territory when Shoemaker hit
Noah Smith for a 30-yard pass to the 11. Shoemaker followed it with a six-yard touchdown pass to
Malik Phillips following a five-yard run by Gentry to push the lead to 21-10 before the Miners ended the half with a 43-yard field goal as time expired to cut the advantage to eight.
Sessums got his opportunity to finally kick a couple of field goals that counted, connecting from 22 and 31 yards out to up the score to 27-13 in the third quarter.
The Miners were able to find the end zone to make it 27-20, and they held the Bearkats off the scoreboard for the first time in five drives to tie it at 27 on a touchdown pass with 11:25 to go in the game.
Following the kickoff, Shoemaker was picked off, and UTEP took its first lead of the game at 34-27 with a short touchdown run at the 9:57 mark of the fourth.
The Kats returned the favor when they got an interception of their own at the UTEP 37. Wide receiver
Simeon Evans tossed a 23-yard pass to Phillips to setup a four-yard scoring run by
Noah Smith to even the score at 34.
Neither team could do anything on their next possessions until the Miners kicked the game-winner with three seconds left in the contest.
