The UTEP men’s basketball team has hit a free fall.
A string of competitive losses ended with a 79-55 blowout road loss to Missouri State Friday night, as the Bears jumped out to a 19-4 lead and dominated UTEP in every area in a definitive first half that ended with Missouri State up 49-23.
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Elijah Jones is a junior forward for the UTEP men’s basketball team.
With the loss, UTEP falls to 4-9 overall and 0-2 in Conference USA, while Missouri State improved to 8-5, 2-0.
Elijah Jones and Trey Hornton led the Miners with 12 points, but UTEP had little else on offense when it fell way behind early. Jamaal West was the other Miner in double figures with 11.
There wasn’t an area where UTEP was particularly good. Missouri State was 19-of-26 from the free-throw line to UTEP’s 13-of-20, the Bears won the boards 31-25, second chance points 20-9 and outshot the Miners 53%-30%.
UTEP inched as close as 58-46 nearing the midpoint of the second half before Missouri State went on a 16-1 run to settle the game.
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More: Analysis: UTEP men’s basketball is off to slow start; here is the fix
Up next
UTEP finishes its conference-opening three-game road trip at Florida International Sunday. The 2 p.m. MT tip will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on 600 ESPN El Paso.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP Miners men’s basketball starts slow, routed by Missouri State