EL PASO, Texas – UC Irvine dropped a 67-61 decision to UTEP in the Don Haskins Invitational Championship Game, Tuesday in El Paso.

UCI falls to 7-6 on the season while the Miners improve to 8-1 overall.

Eyassu Worku finished with a team-best 19 points on 7-15 shooting from the floor and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Worku was the only Anteater to score in double-figures. Collin Welp was next with nine points
> Brad Greene finished with nine rebounds while Isaiah Lee dished out four assits
> UCI shot 42.6 percent from the floor (23-54) and struggled from long range going 6-21 (.286)
> The 'Eaters held UTEP to just 33.3 percent shooting overall (17-51) and from three-point range (5-15)
> UCI committed a season-high 22 turnovers and the Miners took advantage, scoring 23 points off the 'Eaters mishaps
> UTEP was led by Bryson Williams with 22 points
> UCI held advantages in paint points (18-14), second chance points (14-8) and bench points (18-12)
> The Anteaters dominated the boards, 44-27

First Half
> In a physical first half, UCI took an early 6-0 lead after a Greene jumper (17:26)
> UTEP answered with a 15-0 run that gave the Miners a 15-6 lead with 12:03 remaining
> Worku scored four points in a 6-0 run for the 'Eaters to bring them within three, 15-12 (9:59)
> Welp scored seven-straight points for UCI to cut the UTEP lead to one, 23-22, with just over five minutes to play
> The Miners held on to the lead until Worku knocked down a jumper at the buzzer to tie it up, 30-30, heading into the locker rooms

Second Half
> UCI went up by four, 34-30, early in the frame (18:51)
> UTEP used an 8-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish with 17:20 to play
> The Miners led by as much as 10 points (11:52) before UCI went on a 9-0 run to close the gap to one, 52-51, with 9:49 remaining. Worku had five points in that stretch
> Welp made a jumper at 6:50 to knot the game, 57-57
> The game would tie twice more, tied 61-61, with 1:37 remaining
> UTEP closed out the game with a 6-0 run to earn the 67-61 victory

UP NEXT
> UCI travels to Chicago for a game at Illinois-Chicago Friday, December 21 at 5 p.m. PT

NOTES
> UCI returned to the championship game of the tournament for the first time since 2015
> The Anteaters snap a two-game win streak
> UCI and UTEP are 1-1 in the all-time series
> The Anteaters have out-rebounded all but one of their opponents this season