TEXAS-EL PASO 71, HAWAII 70

ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii guard Jake Sottos fouled Texas-El Paso guard Filiberto Rivera late in last night's game.

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Hawaii loses another road
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It was another night of "what if" for the Hawaii basketball team.

For the fourth time in their Western Athletic Conference schedule, the Rainbow Warriors saw a shot at victory slip away in the final seconds last night. Two free throws by Texas-El Paso forward Omar Thomas with 5.1 seconds left lifted the Miners to a 71-70 victory at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, denying Hawaii what would have been a pivotal WAC road win.

UTEP (15-3, 5-1 WAC) prevailed despite making just three field goals in the second half. The Miners did most of their scoring from the free-throw line, going 18-for-25 after halftime to erase a nine-point second-half deficit.

The Miners hit 30 of 38 free throws in the game, while UH went to the line 15 times and made eight.

Hawaii (10-4, 2-4) was led by Jake Sottos' perfect shooting night. The senior hit all seven of his shots from the field -- including six from 3-point range -- to finish with a game-high 20 points.

UH's four losses have come by a total of seven points, with all of those contests decided in the final 30 seconds. The Rainbows were coming off a 61-59 loss at home to Louisiana Tech last Saturday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Vaidotas Peciukas of Hawaii tried to fend off Texas-El Paso defender Will Kimble last night.

"We wanted this game so bad because it would have helped us a lot in the WAC," Sottos said. "To come so far and lose by one again ... . It's got to go our way one of these times.

"We're right there; its a matter of putting a whole 40 minutes together."

The shooting of Sottos and Bobby Nash off the bench helped UH overcome a 13-point first-half deficit and take a nine-point advantage with 11 minutes left. But UTEP mounted its comeback from the free-throw line and UH couldn't get shots to drop in the final moments.

"The kids played hard in the second half; once again we just didn't get it done down the stretch, made too many mistakes," UH coach Riley Wallace said.

"We have to get better -- we're making the same mistakes. When they turn it up a notch, we're letting them take us off the dribble and get to the hole or to the foul line."

Thomas and guard Filiberto Rivera led UTEP with 18 points each. Guard Miguel Ayala hit two critical 3-pointers in the second half to finish with 11.

Thomas made 13 of 14 free-throw attempts and Rivera was 9-for-10. Thomas also grabbed 15 rebounds.

Sottos reached the 20-point mark for the second straight game, while UH forward Julian Sensley added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Nash hit both of his 3-point attempts to spark UH with 10 points.

Sottos' 3-point barrage gave him a school record, as no other UH shooter had posted a perfect night while attempting at least five 3-pointers.

"Once I hit the first couple, the other ones seemed like they were going in when I shot them," said Sottos, who has 15 3-pointers in UH's last three games.

Sottos injured his right foot with about 8 minutes left in the game, but returned for the final moments. X-rays taken after the game were negative and he was diagnosed with strained ligaments. He's listed as probable for the Rainbows' game at Boise State tomorrow.

The injury and UTEP's defense contributed to Sottos not getting many looks at the basket late in the game. But Wallace said the Rainbows could have done a better job finding him.

"They started guarding him closer, but we weren't looking for him," Wallace said. "I got on them about that, too, because if a guy's that hot, you start looking for him. You set good picks and get him open."

UTEP used a 13-3 run to open up its biggest lead of the first half, going up 40-27 on two Rivera free throws with 2:24 left before the break.

Hawaii bridged the half with a 17-0 surge -- the biggest run against UTEP this season -- to take the lead.

UH scored the final five points of the first half to close to within eight. Sottos opened the second half with a 3-pointer and the Rainbows scored the first 12 points of the half.

UTEP, which managed just one field goal in the first 12 minutes of the second half, went down by nine when Nash tipped in a missed shot to put UH up 58-49 with 11:35 left.

The Miners closed to 68-67 on a 3-pointer by Ayala with just over 3 minutes left. A layup by Deonte Tatum then stretched the UH lead to three with 1:10 left.

Ayala was fouled by Matt Gibson while attempting a 3-pointer and made two of three free throws to cut the UH lead to one and UTEP got the ball back with 17.9 seconds left.

With UH in a 1-2-2 zone defense, Thomas drove to the basket and was fouled by Tatum. Thomas then hit the tying and winning free throws.

Tatum's last-second shot was off the mark and UH was left to ponder what might have been.

"I don't think you take anything out of this except we have to work harder and we have to be better with our heads at the end of the game," Wallace said. "That's where we're losing it."

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WAC standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Nevada	6	1	.857	--	13	4
UTEP	5	1	.833	1/2	15	3
Rice	5	1	.833	1/2	10	4
Fresno State	5	2	.714	1	11	5
SMU	3	3	.500	2 1/2	8	6
Hawaii	2	4	.333	3 1/2	10	4
Louisiana Tech	2	4	.333	3 1/2	7	8
Boise State	2	4	.333	3 1/2	8	9
San Jose State	1	5	.167	4 1/2	4	11
Tulsa	0	6	.000	5 1/2	3	12

Yesterday
Nevada 75, Tulsa 69
Rice 83, Fresno State 68
UTEP 71, Hawaii 70
Boise State 72, San Jose State 62

Tomorrow (All times Hawaii time)
Fresno State at Tulsa, 9:05 a.m.
Nevada at Rice, 10:05 a.m.
Hawaii at Boise State, 11 a.m.
SMU at Louisiana Tech, 2:30 p.m.
San Jose State at UTEP, 4:05 p.m.

UTEP 71, Hawaii 70

Rainbow Warriors (10-4, 2-4 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Gipson	1	3	0	0	20	3	4	2
Sensley	6	11	0	0	38	10	3	12
Botez	2	5	0	2	21	8	1	4
Gibson	0	6	2	2	21	1	5	2
Tatum	3	9	1	2	23	3	1	7
Sottos	7	7	0	0	24	2	1	20
Groce	1	3	0	0	11	1	0	2
Zivanovic	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0
Peciukas	1	2	1	3	8	0	1	3
Nash	4	6	0	0	16	2	3	10
Blackett	2	5	4	4	15	1	1	8
Team						1
Totals	27	58	8	13	200	32	20	70

Miners (15-3, 5-1 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Williams	3	8	3	5	38	6	4	9
Thomas	2	8	13	14	37	15	0	18
Tofi	2	4	0	0	26	4	1	4
St. Amant	1	4	0	2	22	1	2	2
Rivera	4	8	9	10	36	0	8	18
Ayala	3	7	2	3	23	2	1	11
Kimble	3	7	3	4	18	3	0	9
Team						2
Totals	18	46	30	38	200	33	16	71

Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.

Halftime -- UTEP 45, Hawaii 37

3-point goals -- Hawaii 8-15 (Sottos 6-6, Nash 2-2, Groce 0-1, Sensley 0-2, Gibson 0-2, Tatum 0-2 ), UTEP 5-15 (Ayala 3-7, Thomas 1-2, Rivera 1-4, St. Amant 0-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 26, UTEP 12. Fouled out -- Gibson.

Steals -- Hawaii 8 (Botez 2, Sottos 2, Blackett 2, Tatum, Nash), UTEP 6 (Williams 3, Rivera 2, Ayala). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 5 (Botez 3, Gipson, Sensley), UTEP 2 (Tofi 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 14 (Tatum 3, Sottos 3, Gipson 2, Gibson 2, Groce 2, Sensley, Peciukas), UTEP 13 (Williams 4, Thomas 3, Rivera 3, Tofi, Kimble, team). Officials -- Thibodeaux, Higgins, Stigligno. A -- 11,144.