The officials gathered around the monitor, then backed away to talk, then looked at the monitor again.
The wait was interminable. It was probably five minutes but seemed like 500 minutes. Finally, they backed away again, hesitated, then one official gave the dunk down sign, the universal sign of a basket called good.
And the Miners erupted. And the announced crowd of 5,696, which had about 2,000 disguised as empty orange seats, erupted. And, finally, finally, finally, there was joy in Minerland again.
Dominic Artis hit a clutch buzzer beater in the final second of the second overtime Thursday night, propelling UTEP to a dramatic and fun and joyous 88-87 victory over FIU.