Christian Polk hit four 3-pointers among his 18 points to pace UTEP to a 71-54 victory over Air Force on Wednesday night in the Sun Bowl Invitational.
Randy Culpepper added 15 points and Jeremy Williams 14 for the Miners (11-3), who knocked off the Falcons in the championship game of last year's tournament. The event was restructured this season so no championship game was held.
Tom Fow led Air Force (8-4) with 13 points, and Zach Bohannon had 10.
John Bohannon grabbed 10 rebounds to head UTEP's 35-29 advantage.
The Miners, who won their ninth straight home game, shot 50.9 percent (28 of 55) to 35.8 percent (19 of 53) for the Falcons.
Two free throws by Gabriel McCulley put UTEP ahead 5-4 with 17:08 left, and the Miners never trailed after that. The lead reached 43-31 at halftime and 55-33 with 16:01 to play on Culpepper's layup.
