EL PASO, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball team dropped an 80-62 decision at the University of Texas at El Paso, Tuesday, in its first action since completing final exams.

Southeastern (2-8) struggled offensively in the first half, but good defense kept the Lions close. UTEP (6-3) led 9-4 at the 11:25 mark despite Southeastern enduring a scoring drought just over eight minutes in length.

The Miners eventually pushed the lead as high as 24, but the scrappy Lions cut the deficit down in the final minutes of play.

"Defensively, we started the game great," head coach Jay Ladner said. "We had things going the way we needed them to go, but we struggled shooting the ball. Losing Zay Jackson for a couple minutes early hurt us, disrupting our offensive rhythm. Quite frankly we struggled to score there. We had looks, but couldn't knock them down."

Jackson, who left the game for a short time early in the first half with an injury, poured in a career-high 26 points to lead the Lions on offense. Joshua Filmore added 12 and Onochie Ochie chipped in 10 points. DeVonte Upson grabbed 12 rebounds, one shy of his career best.

The Lions shot 38.1 percent from the floor (24-of-63), 19 percent (4-of-21) from three-point range and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) at the free throw line.

UTEP's Vince Hunter equaled Jackson's 26 points, tying his career high. Morris Earvin scored 17 and Julian Washburn added another 15 points for the Miners. Matt Willms chipped in nine points and grabbed nine boards.

The Miners were good on 31-of-54 shots overall (57.4 percent) and converted 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc. UTEP hit on 12-of-16 free throw attempts and hauled in 36 rebounds.

"I think our team always shows a lot of resiliency," Ladner said. "There's no quit in them and they battled to the end. It was a matter of attrition with UTEP's size and we didn't do a good enough job of putting points on the board when we had some looks at it."

Southeastern returns home to the University Center, Friday at 7 p.m., to host Winthrop.


UTEP 80, SOUTHEASTERN LA. 62

SOUTHEASTERN LA. (2-8)
Jackson, Zay 11-18 2-2 26; Filmore, Joshua 5-13 0-0 12; Ochie, Onochie 4-11 2-2 10; Guillory, Andrew 1-5 3-5 5; Grieves, Daniel 1-6 2-2 4; Upson, DeVonte 1-4 1-2 3; Duplessis, Jimmie 1-2 0-1 2; Maggio, Dylon 0-1 0-0 0; Barclay, Bret 0-0 0-0 0; Rumph, Zach 0-1 0-0 0; Lobell, Justin 0-0 0-0 0; Jenkins, Cedric 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 10-14 62.

UTEP (6-3)
HUNTER, Vince 11-13 4-4 26; MORRIS, Earvin 6-10 1-1 17; WASHBURN, Julian 6-10 2-2 15; WILLMS, Matt 4-7 1-3 9; HARRIS, Omega 2-3 0-0 4; COOPER, C.J. 1-5 0-0 3; VINT, Hooper 1-2 0-2 2; STALLWORTH, Lew 0-2 2-2 2; LANG, Cedrick 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 31-54 12-16 80.

Southeastern La......... 20 42 - 62
UTEP.......................... 31 49 - 80

3-point goals--Southeastern La. 4-21 (Jackson, Zay 2-7; Filmore, Joshua 2-7; Guillory, Andrew 0-2; Grieves, Daniel 0-3; Jenkins, Cedric 0-2), UTEP 6-14 (MORRIS, Earvin 4-5; COOPER, C.J. 1-3; WASHBURN, Julian 1-3; VINT, Hooper 0-1; STALLWORTH, Lew 0-1; HARRIS, Omega 0-1). Fouled out—Southeastern La.-None, UTEP-None. Rebounds--Southeastern La. 31 (Upson, DeVonte 12), UTEP 36 (WILLMS, Matt 9). Assists--Southeastern La. 8 (Jackson, Zay 4), UTEP 21 (LANG, Cedrick 6). Total fouls--Southeastern La. 16, UTEP 13. Technical fouls--Southeastern La.-None, UTEP-None. A-6811