The game clock slipped under 30 seconds, tip-toed under 25 seconds, raced under 20 seconds and hope was in UTEP's hip pocket.
New Mexico State led 58-56, the Miners were locked in on defense, and this was anyone's game.
But New Mexico State's Terrell Brown drove down the lane, managed to get off a shot that went up and then down through the net — one of those figurative late-game daggers, if there ever was one — and that hope in UTEP's hip pocket drifted harmlessly away into the November desert night air.
The Miners raced down and Efe Odigie hit a jumper, and the Miners trailed by just a deuce again, but with only six seconds remaining.