CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Paul Thomas took an inbounds pass in the wing and drove for the hoop, beating his defender with a spin move to hit a short jumper with two seconds left and UTEP edged Charlotte 87-86 Thursday night in a battle of two teams eager for a win.
UTEP (8-17, 3-10 Conference USA) had lost six in a row before Thursday, Charlotte (5-19, 1-12) has now lost 11 straight.
Charlotte held an 86-83 lead with just under a minute remaining in a game that saw five ties and seven lead changes. Evan Gilyard's layup pulled the Miners to 86-85 and Charlotte's Jon Davis missed the front end of a one-and-one with 21 seconds left.