Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Saturday, January 19
Murfreesboro, TN
5:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
5-14, 2-4
75
vs
72
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UTEP
6-11, 1-5
1
2
F
UTEP
29
43
72
Middle Tennessee
27
48
75
Team Stats
UTEP
MT
FG%
.510
.439
3FG%
.278
.364
FT%
.833
.567
RB
33
32
TO
20
13
STL
4
7
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballInspired Raiders mount comeback to defeat UTEP
1/19/2019 8:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MT earns sweep in Murphy Center
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – It took some grit, but Middle Tennessee left its home floor with its second Conference USA victory in a row Saturday night.
After trailing by double digits in the first half and as many as nine in the second, the Blue Raiders (5-14, 2-4) rallied to beat the Miners (6-11, 1-5), 75-72.
"It was a good win for our team tonight," MT head coach Nick McDevitt said. "There were a lot of things you don't normally see in a basketball game … but I thought our guys did a nice job of keeping their composure."
The game featured a matchup of two of C-USA's newest coaches, as McDevitt and UTEP's Rodney Terry are both in their first year at their respective schools.
Terry's squad had the upper hand early on, and it caused McDevitt to pull out all the stops in the first half. The Miners built a 26-14 lead, and with 7:50 remaining McDevitt called a timeout and got animated on the sidelines while subbing out four starters for walk-ons KJ Lewis and Lawrence Mosley and freshmen TJ Massenburg and Junior Farquhar.
"We were not playing with enough effort early in the game, and that's why we were down," McDevitt said. "It wasn't things that UTEP was doing that we weren't ready for … they were just playing harder than us."
The subs made an immediate impact, Lewis forcing a turnover and Mosley knocking down a layup to get their teammates on the bench on their feet.
Middle Tennessee used the energy to rattle off a 13-3 run over the rest of the first half, going into the locker room trailing 29-27.
"That was inspiring and makes you want to go out there and play harder," senior Antonio Green said. "I felt like that was the turning point in the game, and when we came back in we just kept it going."
UTEP built its lead back to nine points four minutes into the second half, but Middle Tennessee wasn't done.
The Blue Raiders chipped their way back into it thanks to some foul trouble that haunted the Miners' big men, leading to offensive rebound opportunities that MT capitalized on.
While shooting 46 percent from the field in the second half, the blue and white gobbled up eight offensive rebounds that led to 10 second-chance points. Junior Reggie Scurry led the way, grabbing eight of his team-high nine rebounds on the offensive end to go with a career-high-tying 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
"I went in with an aggressive mindset," Scurry said. "I felt like last game I didn't really show up for my team … so when I came into the game I decided I was going to play hard."
Middle Tennessee captured its first lead of the game with 12:17 to play, and it didn't look back, building the advantage to as many as eight before icing the game late at the free-throw line.
Green was MT's high man offensively with 21 points on 6-of-17 shooting, 5-for-11 from distance, to go with six rebounds. Donovan Sims added 12 points, while senior Karl Gamble had nine points and eight rebounds.
The Blue Raiders put together a quality offensive showing, finishing with a season-high 18 assists against just 13 turnovers, one off their season low. They also did their part on the defensive end, holding the Miners to 27 percent from 3-point range (5-18) and forcing 20 turnovers.
"Our guys are starting to trust each other," McDevitt said. "That doesn't mean it's perfect every time, but they're each trying to make plays now within the framework of what we do.
"The ball is starting to move around … and that's when any team becomes hard to guard."
They'll hope to carry that momentum into a road trip to Texas, where they'll match up with Rice on Jan. 24 and North Texas two days later.
Josh Vardaman is the staff writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Vardaman and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
After trailing by double digits in the first half and as many as nine in the second, the Blue Raiders (5-14, 2-4) rallied to beat the Miners (6-11, 1-5), 75-72.
"It was a good win for our team tonight," MT head coach Nick McDevitt said. "There were a lot of things you don't normally see in a basketball game … but I thought our guys did a nice job of keeping their composure."
The game featured a matchup of two of C-USA's newest coaches, as McDevitt and UTEP's Rodney Terry are both in their first year at their respective schools.
Terry's squad had the upper hand early on, and it caused McDevitt to pull out all the stops in the first half. The Miners built a 26-14 lead, and with 7:50 remaining McDevitt called a timeout and got animated on the sidelines while subbing out four starters for walk-ons KJ Lewis and Lawrence Mosley and freshmen TJ Massenburg and Junior Farquhar.
"We were not playing with enough effort early in the game, and that's why we were down," McDevitt said. "It wasn't things that UTEP was doing that we weren't ready for … they were just playing harder than us."
The subs made an immediate impact, Lewis forcing a turnover and Mosley knocking down a layup to get their teammates on the bench on their feet.
Middle Tennessee used the energy to rattle off a 13-3 run over the rest of the first half, going into the locker room trailing 29-27.
"That was inspiring and makes you want to go out there and play harder," senior Antonio Green said. "I felt like that was the turning point in the game, and when we came back in we just kept it going."
UTEP built its lead back to nine points four minutes into the second half, but Middle Tennessee wasn't done.
The Blue Raiders chipped their way back into it thanks to some foul trouble that haunted the Miners' big men, leading to offensive rebound opportunities that MT capitalized on.
While shooting 46 percent from the field in the second half, the blue and white gobbled up eight offensive rebounds that led to 10 second-chance points. Junior Reggie Scurry led the way, grabbing eight of his team-high nine rebounds on the offensive end to go with a career-high-tying 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
"I went in with an aggressive mindset," Scurry said. "I felt like last game I didn't really show up for my team … so when I came into the game I decided I was going to play hard."
Middle Tennessee captured its first lead of the game with 12:17 to play, and it didn't look back, building the advantage to as many as eight before icing the game late at the free-throw line.
Green was MT's high man offensively with 21 points on 6-of-17 shooting, 5-for-11 from distance, to go with six rebounds. Donovan Sims added 12 points, while senior Karl Gamble had nine points and eight rebounds.
The Blue Raiders put together a quality offensive showing, finishing with a season-high 18 assists against just 13 turnovers, one off their season low. They also did their part on the defensive end, holding the Miners to 27 percent from 3-point range (5-18) and forcing 20 turnovers.
"Our guys are starting to trust each other," McDevitt said. "That doesn't mean it's perfect every time, but they're each trying to make plays now within the framework of what we do.
"The ball is starting to move around … and that's when any team becomes hard to guard."
They'll hope to carry that momentum into a road trip to Texas, where they'll match up with Rice on Jan. 24 and North Texas two days later.
Josh Vardaman is the staff writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Vardaman and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
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