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Men's Basketball
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Thursday, February 25
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:35 PM
University of Utah
75
vs
70
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UTEP
Men's Hoops Downs Texas-El Paso
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
February 25, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Andre Miller doesn't need X-rays to tell him the biggest game of Utah's season is coming up on Saturday.
Miller scored 17 points before bruising his left hand in No. 12 Utah's 75-70 win over UTEP on Thursday night. The win was the Runnin' Utes' 18th straight, tying a school record.
Miller, a right-handed shooter, was scheduled for an X-rayed today, but he said the hand is fine. The preseason All-American came down hard after trying to score with 34 seconds to play.
"I was just trying to make a stupid play," Miller said. "I forced it against a big guy when I didn't need to, and I landed on my hand."
Shortly after the win, the Utes began looking forward to their Saturday showdown with No. 21 New Mexico. With a victory, Utah would have the longest winning streak in school history, its longest homecourt winning streak and the first perfect conference season ever at the school.
"We need to play well every night, but we'll have some extra motivation on Saturday," Miller said.
Utah (23-4, 13-0 Western Athletic Conference) struggled to pull away from the Miners, who employed a stalling offense and slowed the game's pace to a crawl. Alex Jensen keyed a 17-6 Utes run late in the second half with eight straight points, including a dunk with five minutes to play that gave Utah a 63-52 lead.
Jensen was the Utes' offensive catalyst, getting 14 points, 12 rebounds and four assists before fouling out.
"I wanted to post up because they were small, and that led to an important run," Jensen said. "Hopefully we learned that we can't just show up and win because we have Utah on our jersey."
The Runnin' Utes haven't lost since Dec. 12, and their homecourt win streak is the third-longest in the country. Still, after winning all of the first 16 games in their streak by double digits, the close shave against the Miners was almost a cause for concern.
"I didn't feel good in the locker room after that performance, but we have to get on to our next game, which is very important," Utah coach Rick Majerus said.
Majerus pointed to Utah's 31-22 rebounding edge as the difference in the game. The Utes balanced their frontcourt dominance with Miller's 17 points and 10 from shooting guard Jeremy Killion.
"We abused them in the post because of our height advantage," Majerus said. "They just don't have the firepower."
Majerus also got no enjoyment from beating his old friend, UTEP coach Don Haskins, for the eighth straight time.
"This is a bittersweet win, one because we played poorly, and two because I hate to play a close friend," Majerus said. "Haskins transcends friendship with me because I respect him and try to emulate him."
After the game, Haskins followed the referees through a tunnel and into their dressing room, complaining about a timeout they had failed to award him late in the game.
"Utah is very talented and strong, but I'm proud of our guys," Haskins said. "They left it all out there on the court."
Utah's scare over Miller's injury was quickly followed by a scare on the scoreboard. After Miller left the game, UTEP scored eight straight points in 20 seconds, and Jose Escobedo's 3-pointer cut Utah's lead to 73-70.
But Killion broke free for a layup that iced the win. Hanno Mottola had 15 points and five assists for Utah, which clinched its fifth straight WAC regular-season title last week.
Sharif Fajardo led the Miners with 22 points, while William Smith added 15. The Miners, who have lost two straight after a four-game win streak, are still the favorites for the Pacific Division's third seed in next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
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