UTEP 96, UCF 59

Published Jan. 24, 2010 12:35 a.m. ET

foxsports

Randy Culpepper scored 39 points and UTEP held Central Florida to 19 percent shooting in the second half as the Miners pulled away for a 96-59 victory on Saturday.

UTEP (13-5, 4-1 Conference USA) won for the first time in three tries at Central Florida.

Culpepper, who made nine 3-pointers, scored 25 points in the second half as the Miners won for the third consecutive time and handed the Knights their worse conference loss since joining C-USA in 2005.

UCF's previous worse defeat came in a 94-61 loss to Memphis on January 28, 2006.

Arnett Moultrie finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for UTEP.

UCF (10-9, 2-3) went scoreless the first 5:04 of the second half, missing its first eight shots as UTEP extended a three-point halftime advantage to 52-41. An 8-0 run by Culpepper, including two 3-pointers, pushed the Miners lead to 60-45 with 12:12 left.