UTEP pulls away late to top Florida Atlantic 63-56

Feb 5, 2015, 11:06 pm

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Vince Hunter scored 22 points, Cedrick Lang added 16 and UTEP defeated Florida Atlantic 63-56 on Thursday.

There were 11 ties and 12 lead changes before the Miners (15-7, 7-3 Conference USA) pulled away in the closing minutes.

The last tie, at 54, came with 2:58 when Marquan Botley made two free throws for the Eagles (8-12, 1-8). Twenty seconds later Hunter's free throw put the Miners up one. FAU missed three straight shots before C.J. Cooper made two free throws with 43 seconds left for the Miners.

After that, Hunter made four straight from the line before Justin Raffington ended FAU's dry spell with 20 seconds left. But Julian Washburn made two free throws at 18 seconds and after yet another miss, Hunter hit one more at 10 seconds to ice it.

Raffington had 20 points and 10 rebounds for FAU.

Hunter finished with nine rebounds.