UTEP DROPS DUKES IN TOURNAMENT OPENER

Monday, December 29

Santa Clara, Calif.

11 p.m.

James Madison University

7-5

Texas-El Paso

7-4

James Madison

UTEP

12/30/2008 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 29, 2008 ? Texas-El Paso's Randy Culpeper sparked his team to big leads early during both halves, and the Miners went on to beat James Madison 79-66 Monday in the first round of the Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara (Calif.) University.

Culpeper, who scored a game-high 30 points, had four of Texas-El Paso's six three-point field goals during the game's first 11 minutes when the Miners took a 25-7 lead. JMU rallied back to within seven points late during the half and trailed only 34-24 at halftime, but Culpeper had two of his team's five three-pointers during the opening four minutes of the final half as UTEP raised its advantage to 51-28.

JMU managed to cut the lead to 59-49 with 8:55 to play but could get no closer while having a three-game winning streak snapped and falling to 7-5 for the season.

UTEP improved to 7-4 with the victory and advanced to the tournament's 11 p.m. EST Tuesday championship game against host Santa Clara. JMU will play Belmont in the 9 p.m. EST consolation game. Santa Clara beat Belmont 83-80 in Monday's tournament opener.

Culpepper, a sophomore guard, hit on 10 of 17 shots for the game, including eight of 14 attempts from three-point range, in 29 minutes. The Miners overall were successful on 14 of 33 three-point tries (42 percent).