EL PASO, Texas (AP) Deon Lyle came off the bench to hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range and score 18 and Giovanni De Nicolao added 10 points, including two free throws with five seconds left, to help UT San Antonio hold off UTEP 63-59 on Saturday night.
Byron Frohnen added 12 points and seven rebounds, Jhivvan Jackson scored 10 with nine boards and Nick Allen scored nine and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Roadrunners (14-11, 7-5 Conference USA) win the battle of the boards 48-35.
UT San Antonio trailed 48-46 after UTEP’s Isiah Osborne sank a 3 with 11 minutes remaining in the game. But Frohnen tipped in an errant shot by Lyle to knot the score, De NIcolao scored on a layup for the lead and Lyle sank a 3 to give the Roadrunners a 53-49 lead with 7:49 to play. Trey Touchet scored six straight points and Osborne hit 2 of 3 free throws with nine seconds left to get the Miners (7-17, 2-10) within 61-59. Matt Willms was forced to foul De Nicolao, who sank both foul shots after missing a pair with 19 seconds remaining.
Willms topped UTEP with 12 points. Paul Thomas finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while Kobe Magee scored 11. UTEP made just 16 of 34 free throws (47 percent).
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