EL PASO, Texas – Jax State dug itself into an early hole Thursday even at the Don Haskins Center and could never recover en route to a 79-71 road loss to the UTEP Miners.
 
For the second-straight road game, the Gamecocks (11-11, 3-4 CUSA) fell behind 10-0 to begin the night, and for the second-straight time they failed to fight back for a lead. Meanwhile, the Miners (12-10, 3-4 CUSA) held on for 40 minutes to improve to 11-2 on their home court.
 
On a 4-for-13 shooting night, KyKy Tandy still led the way with 15 points. He was followed in double figures by Mason Nicholson, who fouled out with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds after a physical night, and Quincy Clark, who came on late trying to pilot Jax State's comeback. Even with Marcellus Brigham Jr. and Juwan Perdue's eight points each to go with seven and six boards, respectively, the Gamecocks couldn't contained UTEP offensively which saw five Miners score 10-or-more.
 
The physical contest saw plenty of plays continue through contact, even with 50 fouls getting whistled during the night. Jax State didn't capitalize on being sent to the line more than the home team, shooting 28-for-39 from the stripe.
 
Following the 10-0 deficit to open the game, Jax State slowly chipped away from what was once an 11-point margin to cut it to four at the break, 36-32.
 
In a yo-yo effect, a couple of Brigham Jr. free throws to begin the second stanza made it a two-point game. UTEP responded to push the advantage back to nine at 50-41, before Jax State trimmed it back down to two again following an Ivan Reynolds' fast-break slam. Reynolds drew a foul for the chance to cut it to one, but the Gamecock was subsequently called for a technical foul after celebrating the momentum-turning play with the Gamecock bench.
 
The Miners again padded the lead with free throws and eventually extended the margin back to double digits at 64-53 with seven minutes remaining before the Gamecocks mounted a final charge. The Gamecocks worked it back down to a five-point game with two minutes to play, but UTEP drew more whistles to ultimately ice the game with their final seven points coming at the free throw line.
 
Jax State remains out west and visits New Mexico State on Saturday night.