HUNTSVILLE, ALA. — All of UTEP men’s basketball undoubted strengths — toughness, resilience, a scrappy defense, heart — lack one important attribute.

None of those positives put the ball in the basket. That’s been a recurring problem throughout the year, and at the absolute worst time, in the middle of the second half of the Conference USA title game against Western Kentucky, that was the Miners’ demise in a 78-71 loss that ended their season.

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This time the big second-half run went against them, as UTEP missed eight consecutive shots and a 53-47 lead with 13:47 to play became a 60-53 deficit with 8:51 left. This time, a Miner team that defined itself with big comebacks, including an early rally from a 17-4 hole in this game, couldn’t find its way back.

The heart and fight was there, the balance on the tightrope wasn’t and the Miners finished their remarkable run, and their five-game winning streak, with an 18-16 record that does give them some momentum into next year.

Zid Powell closed his career with 21 points, including one-man runs of 8-0 and 6-0 when UTEP was successfully digging itself out of holes, but he didn’t have enough scoring help. The Miners shot 39%, including an 0-of-10 start when they fell behind by 14 points in the first seven minutes, and had 19 turnovers.

They’ve overcome numbers like that before, but it’s not very likely, and at the biggest moment, likely held.

Miners down 4 at the half

UTEP overcame a nightmare start to take a brief lead, but a 7-0 Western Kentucky run late in the first half gave the Toppers a 40-36 lead at the half.

The Miners missed their first 10 shots and had six turnovers as WKU ran out to a 17-4 lead, but UTEP joined the battle with a 10-0 run over 1:24, then Powell later scored eight unanswered points in 1:21. That was the start of a 10-0 run that put the Miners up 30-29.

In that first 10-point run that rescued UTEP from its awful start, freshman Trey Horton hit two 3-pointers that seemed to ease the Miners’ nerves.

They were outshot 55%-39% in the opening half but made 5-of-12 threes (they were 6-of-16 on twos) and made 9-of-12 free throws to WKU’s 4-of-4 despite out-fouling the Hilltoppers 9-8.

Powell went to the locker room with 10 points and Otis Frazier added nine.

Up next

The NCAA tournament selection show is Sunday at 4 p.mm. Mountain time on CBS and ESPN.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.