Start of UTEP game against North Texas Thursday night Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times
It was something like fool's gold.
UTEP bombed in 3-pointers early to soar away with the lead. But, gradually and surely — as 3-pointers tend to do — the long range shots stopped dropping.
UAB, meanwhile, was scoring deep in that paint, down close where the shots are a tad friendlier, where they tend to keep dropping.
And slowly and surely the Blazers ran down the Miners.
More: Struggling, hobbled Miners about to hit roughest part of season
UAB defeated UTEP 85-78 Thursday night in Birmingham's Bartow Arena, a crowd of 3,013 looking on.