EL PASO — Sam Houston could not catch a break during a stretch early in the second half that ended any thoughts of a road split to open Conference USA play following a 81-72 loss to UTEP on Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center.
The Bearkats (7-8) closed a two-game swing out west with losses to New Mexico State and the Miners (12-3, 2-0) to start league play 0-2 for the first time since 2016-17 season.
Marcus Boykin scored a team-high 18 points,
Lamar Wilkerson had 16,
Cameron Huefner finished with 14 and
Kalifa Sakho and
Josiah Hammons each added 10.
Sam Houston was on fire to open the second half. Sakho got it started with dunk, then Huefner buried a 3 and a layup to cut a double-digit lead to 39-36. The momentum shifted after that as the Miners answered with their own outburst to increase the lead to 54-36.
Huefner finally came up with a steal and dished it to Finister for a basket to end the Bearkat scoring drought after five minutes. The damage had been done, however.
The first half was competitive most of the way. UTEP grabbed the early lead, but Boykin scored seven unanswered points to tie the game at 11.
The Miners retook the lead then it was the Bearkats' turn.
Dorian Finister came flying in and slammed home a rebound on a miss shot to tie it once more, and Boykin came through again when he converted a three-point play on a foul to give Sam Houston's its first lead at 16-13.
A 9-0 run late in the half allowed the Miners to pull away as they built their biggest lead of the period at 39-25 with less than a minute left. Wilkerson knocked down a free throw, and
Josiah Hammons drained a 3-pointer right before the buzzer to trim the lead to 10 at the break.
Sam Houston returns home to host Liberty on Thursday at Johnson Coliseum with tipoff set for 8 p.m.
