Liberty wins 16th straight, tops UTEP 73-64

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — JJ Harper's 18 points helped Liberty defeat UTEP 73-64 on Saturday.

Harper added six rebounds for the Flames (22-3, 14-0 Conference USA). Brett Decker Jr. went 6 of 14 from the field (3 for 9 from 3-point range) to add 17 points. Zach Cleveland shot 5 of 8 from the field and 3 of 6 from the free-throw line to finish with 13 points. The Flames picked up their 16th straight victory.

Elijah Jones finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Miners (10-16, 6-9). UTEP also got 14 points from KJ Thomas. Kaseem Watson finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Liberty took a 28-25 lead in the first half with a 13-0 run. Led by 10 first-half points from Decker, Liberty carried a 28-26 lead into the break. Harper's 3-pointer with 14:22 left in the second half gave Liberty the lead for good at 39-36.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.