by Ray Sanchez© 04.03.16
What fun! I’m talking about the women’s and men’s 2015-2016 UTEP basketball season.
The Miners’ women’s team had a much better record. It won the Conference USA championship, finished with a 29-5 record and made it to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
The women players were a delight to watch. Their greatest strength was quickness, which enabled them to create turnovers and go flying down the court for layups. They piled up victory after thrilling victory as El Pasoans cheered them on.
They met their Waterloo last Monday in the Don Haskins Center against University of Oregon, an exceptionally good shooting team that didn’t rattle and won 71-67.
Bouquets to Miners coach Keitha Adams, who has notched out a special niche in UTEP coaching lore.
BUT HEY, the men’s team was also fun to watch. In fact, the men mirrored the women’s players in quickness. They had a little of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in them. They’d go on a winning streak then hit a string of losses.
Still, when they were on they, too, were a delight to watch. And their performance when the school honored the school’s 1966 championship team will be long remembered. They came from behind, thanks to that quickness, and beat two good opponents.
Overall, the men’s team finished with a 19-14 record and gave opponents that beat them plenty of fits.
Bouquets, too, to Miners coach Tim Floyd.
TRIVIA QUESTION: The 1966 Texas Western College team that won the NCAA championship wound up with a record of 28-1. The only regular season loss was to Seattle. But there was another team that beat the Miners in pre-season play. Who was it and what was the score? Answer at end.
THE RESPONSE to the legacy series celebrating sports at El Paso High School on March 24 was, to say the least, outstanding. Hundreds of El Pasoans showed up to cheer the school’s former sports stars.
Unfortunately, the school has had so many athletic stars there was no way there was time to mention them all. I introduced the male athletes and I felt sad that I couldn’t also mention other EPHS exes like the following:
- Jim Paul, who did so much for baseball.
- Ron Gillett, a former basketball star who ran Dos Lagos Golf Course so many years.
- Dolph Quijano, one of our greatest boxers.
- Football greats like Jim DeGroat, Ernest Keily, Bill Chesak, Neal Franklin.
- Bert Williams, an all-around athlete who became our mayor.
- Jimmy Rogers, who has done so much for our Sun Bowl.
- Junior Ruiz, a four-sport star of the 1950s who has been seriously ill of late.
- Baseball stars Manny Ponsford, Mike Barrueta, Sergio Guerrero, Joey Pennies.
- Henry Masterson, a former tennis great.
- And so many others.
THE PROGRAM ended at the 1960s so also there was no time to mention that at the state track meet Tony Zuniga won the mile in the 1970s, Gilbert Contreras won a cross country title in the 1980s and Juan Buendia won a cross country title in the 1990s.
I hope mentioning them now helps a little.
All in all, it was a happy event. I thanked the Tiger athletes for helping make my career as a sportswriter a joyous one. I’ve had offers from other cities through the years but, like Don Haskins and others who chose to stay put in El Paso, I’m glad I didn’t leave. Now we have many more superb high school athletes at El Paso High and other high schools to write about and cheer.
And so many other sports blessings I thank my lucky stars.
Answer to trivia question: The Phillips 66 Oilers who at the time were considered a professional team. Nevertheless, the Miners lost by only 68-59.