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Sports

Miners halt five-game win streak

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

UH got to the line late in Saturday night's game at UTEP and had multiple opportunities to shift the momentum -- one free throw at a time. 

The Cougars were unable to capitalize, however, as they fell 79-71 to the Miners at the Don Haskins Center. Head coach Tom Penders said his team showed positive signs on a night where they were not clicking on the offensive end.

The Cougars rode the Miners' heels for 40 minutes, pulling to within three points with 4:58 remaining despite shooting 30.9 percent from the floor. Houston's starting frontcourt also had to battle through foul trouble. 

UH only forced UTEP into 12 turnovers, but Houston got an electrifying performance off the bench from a player Penders said could be seeing more time as the season progresses.

"Despite foul trouble and everything else, we didn't quit," Penders said. "That's the positive side of it, but it was a tough loss. This would have been a great win for us if we could have pulled it off.

"I thought Tafari Toney stepping in and giving his best performance of the year was positive for us. Oliver Lafayette, Jahmar (Thorpe) and (Robert) "Fluff" (McKiver), you've got three main guys there that really didn't have any kind of night, and yet were still hanging around and had an opportunity to win the game."

McKiver had an off night shooting. The junior point guard shot 4-13 from the field, had an assist to turnover ratio of negative three and fouled out with 5:54 remaining in the second half. Penders went to the only true point guard on the active roster for answers and said junior Charlie Jones responded well, picking up four assists.

Toney, the junior San Jacinto transfer who's seen limited time this season, came off the bench with the score at 48-37 and 16:30 remaining in the game to make an immediate impact. 

In four minutes he managed to put up eight points, grab three boards and block two shots, leading the Cougars on a 14-7 run in the process. UH managed to get the score to within three points in the later minutes but shot 64.7 percent from the free-throw line in the second half, nullifying Toney's effort.

"Charlie did a great job of running the offense, playing defense," Penders said. "But again, that's why I recruited Taff. What I saw tonight from Taff was what I saw in the junior college circuit. I think he's tired of sitting on the bench and watching a freshman play in front of him, and now maybe we'll have some competition up front."

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