Western Kentucky wins 3rd straight, edges UTEP 67-62

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Taveion Hollingsworth scored 18 points, Jared Savage added 14 plus nine rebounds and Western Kentucky defeated UTEP 67-62 on Thursday night, rolling to a third straight win.

Carson Williams added 13 points and Camron Justice 11 points for Western Kentucky (17-8, 10-3 Conference USA), which secured a spot among conference leaders in the upcoming round-robin for tournament seeding.

Justice gave the Hilltoppers a 36-35 lead three minutes into the second half and — though the lead remained slim — fended off UTEP the rest of the way.

Souley Boum scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Miners (13-13, 4-9), whose losing streak stretched to four games. Bryson Williams added 13 points and eight rebounds. Daryl Edwards had 10 points.

Western Kentucky plays UTSA on the road on Saturday. UTEP hosts Marshall on Saturday. On Sunday, Conference USA plans to release the schedule for what it calls its Bonus Play round, covering the last four regular-season games and determines seeding into the conference tourney.