UTEP downs Herd

Published 1:29 am Monday, January 13, 2014

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Vince Hunter scored 20 points Saturday night and John Bohannon scored 18 and grabbed 14 rebounds as UTEP defeated Marshall 66-56 for its first Conference USA win of the season.

The lead changed hands 13 times in the first half until Marshall’s Ryan Taylor made a layup with 41 seconds to play to tie the score at 27.

UTEP opened the second half with a 10-0 run, then pulled away to lead by 17 on a Matt Willms dunk with 11 minutes left.

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Marshall came back and made it a five-point game on a layup by Chris Thomas, but Hunter kept it out of reach with a free throw and a dunk with 10 seconds to go to give UTEP a 10-point advantage.

Julian Washburn scored 17 and UTEP (11-6, 1-1) outshot Marshall (6-11, 1-1) 46.8 percent to 31.7 percent.

Taylor led Marshall with 18 and Chris Thomas scored 13.