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No. 12 Tulsa Drills Miners


Tulsa bounced back in a big way.

Tony Heard had 17 points to help the 12th-ranked Golden Hurricane rebound from a loss to Fresno State and beat Texas El-Paso 85-55 on Saturday to clinch at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title.

"We're back now. We played great today," said coach Bill Self, whose team lost to Fresno State 73-72 on Thursday. "We're hung over still from that game," he said. "This is one of the most beloved teams to play on this campus."

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  • The Golden Hurricane (26-3, 11-2 WAC) had a one-game lead over SMU (9-3), which played TCU on Saturday night, and Fresno State (8-3), which has league games remaining against Rice on Saturday night and San Jose on Wednesday.

    Tulsa closes its regular season next Saturday at SMU. The Golden Hurricane's only league losses were against Fresno State.

    UTEP (13-13, 4-9) finished the season winless on the road against WAC teams under first-year coach Jason Rabedeaux.

    The Miners were led by Brandon Wolfram, who was 11-of-16 from the field and 3-of-3 from the 3-point line for 30 points. He had 16 of UTEP's 22 points in the first half.

    Brandon Kurtz had 16 points, Marcus Hill 14 and Eric Coley 13 in the Hurricane's last home game.

    "We were playing with emotion," Coley said. "We had so much energy flowing through us. Right now, today, it would have been hard for anybody to beat us."

    Tulsa shot 51 percent from the field and was 10-of-18 from beyond the arc.

    Roy Smallwood added 14 points for UTEP, which shot 47 percent from the field and was 6-of-11 on 3-pointers.

    The Miners had 24 turnovers to Tulsa's 12.

    UTEP tied it 12-12 on Eggie McRae's basket, but Kurtz's basket started a 2-2 run that made it 34-14 with 6:19 left in the half.

    Tulsa led 46-22 at halftime, shooting 53 percent in the period to UTEP's 36.

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