EL PASO — The experience of all those tough road games early in the year paid off for the Utah men's basketball team Wednesday night, as the Utes took an 81-69 victory over UTEP in a first-round game of the College Basketball Invitational before 5,315 at the Don Haskins Center.
The Miners had only lost twice all season at home, but they were no match for the Utes, who jumped out to an early 10-point lead and were never headed.
Johnnie Bryant scored 17 points for Utah, while Luke Nevill had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Carlon Brown, Tyler Kepkay and Luka Drca each added nine points for the Utes.
The Utes will head back out on the road for a game Monday night at Tulsa, which defeated Miami of Ohio 61-45 Wednesday night.
"It's a big step for our group of guys," said Utah coach Jim Boylen. "Our defense held them to 34.8 percent shooting and that's what this program is all about."
Although Stefon Jackson, the nation's seventh-leading scorer, finished with a game-high 20 points, it was a quiet 20, as he made just 9-of-20 shots and scored the majority of his points in the final five minutes when the Utes led by double digits.
"It feels great," added Bryant. "You have to be mentally tough to win on the road and we showed it tonight. We did a great job on the defensive end and that made the difference."
After taking a 10-point halftime lead at 34-24, the Utes turned the ball over twice in the first minute of the second half and just like that, it was 34-31.
However, the Utes didn't panic and Shaun Green made a three-point play and Bryant sank back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 10.
The lead got as high as 21 at 59-38 with 9:03 left, but the Miners ran off 10 straight to make it more interesting with six minutes left.
Then came a big play when Jackson was called with a foul on Drca and was whistled with a technical. Bryant and Drca each made two free throws to push the lead back to 15.
The Miners made one final run to cut the lead to seven at 72-65 with 1:28 left, but the Utes sank 9-of-10 free throws to salt the game away.
For the game, the Utes hit 29-of-33 free throws compared to 14-of-24 for the Miners.
The Utes took a 34-24 halftime lead, despite shooting just 34 percent from the field. However, the Utes held the Miners to an atrocious 20 percent shooting on 7-of-34 from the field.
The Miners were befuddled by the Utes' triangle-and-two defense, which they had only used once previously this season.
"My guys did a great job with that defense," said Boylen. "We've had it ready a few times, but I thought it made a big difference tonight."
In other games Wednesday, Bradley defeated Cincinnati 70-67 and Valparaiso 72-71. In Tuesday night's games, Ohio defeated Brown 80-74, Virginia beat Richmond 66-64, Old Dominion held off Rider 68-65 and Houston edged Nevada 80-79.
GAME NOTES: The game was played on the 42nd anniversary of UTEP's national championship victory over Kentucky in 1966. ... Utah now leads the all-time series with UTEP 34-31. ... The last time the Utes and Miners played, Utah won 60-54 in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee.