BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Ryan Taylor had 21 points and 14 rebounds, and made a layup with three seconds left to give Marshall an 87-85 victory over UTEP on Thursday night in a Conference USA tournament quarterfinal.

The third-seeded Thundering Herd (17-15) will face No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee (22-9) on Friday.

UTEP’s Terry Winn made a pair of free throws to tie it at 78-all with 4:10 left. There were four more ties, and neither team had more than a two-point lead the rest of the way.

Austin Loop made six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points for Marshall. James Kelly added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Winn had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 6 seed UTEP (19-14), which had five in double figures, but made just 17 of 24 free-throw attempts.

The Thundering Herd did not fare better from the line, hitting 58 percent on 14-of-24 shooting, yet sank 13 of 39 3-pointers compared to UTEP’s 4 of 10 from long range.