The game started at noon (10 a.m. Hawai'i time), and by the time it was over, so was Hawai'i's season.

A crowd of around 1,000 at the Lawlor Events Center watched the 'Bows drop to 16-13. Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said he does not expect to receive an invitation to a postseason tournament. The Miners improved to 25-7 and advanced to today's semifinals.

"When you play a 12 o'clock game, a morning game like that, it's whoever gets up and gets ready and has their intensity to get started," Wallace said. "I must have done a poor job of getting our guys to play because UTEP was ready and willing to get after it."

The Miners led the game from start to finish, and it was their third victory over Hawai'i this season. The last opponent to beat the 'Bows three times in one season was Fresno State in 2000.

"All energy," is how Wallace described the Miners. "They just had a lot more than we did."

Yesterday's loss was only the second one by a double-digit margin for the 'Bows. Hawai'i's previous two losses to UTEP were by a combined five points.

Hawai'i's Matthew Gipson, right, loses the ball as he goes for a shot while being guarded by Texas-El Paso's Will Kimble in the first half. Jeff Chiu • Associated Press

Four players scored in double digits for the Miners: Omar Thomas had 21, Filiberto Rivera 19, Jason Williams 18 and Miguel Ayala 10.

The shorter Miners also out-rebounded Hawai'i, 40-26, with Thomas grabbing eight and Williams seven.

Julian Sensley and Bobby Nash led Hawai'i with 13 points each. "Little Matt" Gibson added nine points, and Jake Sottos had seven points, five rebounds and five assists.

"You can tell they came out and jumped on us defensively," Sensley said. "They forced some early turnovers and were beating us up and down the court. You could just tell they wanted it more out there."

Sensley was matched up with Thomas for most of the game, and he accepted his share of the loss.

"I think his game and my game are a bit similar — we're big guys who can take people off the dribble," said Sensley, who added four rebounds and two assists. "He just got the better of me tonight. I wasn't moving my feet as well as I usually do and he played well tonight."

In truth, the game was all but decided in the first seven minutes when the Miners raced to a 14-4 lead. Williams scored 10 points in the opening minutes, and had 15 in the first half to lead UTEP to a 45-33 advantage at intermission.

"The biggest key of all was that we needed to come out and play hard that first five minutes," Sadler said. "We had to let Hawai'i know that we were here to play and going to play for 40 minutes."

The 'Bows scored the first basket of the second half to get within 10, but that was as close as it would get.

"We kind of dropped our heads and got discouraged when we couldn't score, even though we were playing a little better on defense," Wallace said of the second-half start. "That was the turning point for us to come back, I think."

The Miners went on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 53-35 with 15:52 remaining, and Hawai'i never got closer than 12 the rest of the way. UTEP increased the lead to as much as 22 before both teams put in their reserves in the closing minutes.

"I don't want to give any excuses and I don't have any to give you," said Nash, who shot 4 of 4 from 3-point range.

The game was generally played at a fast pace, which is exactly what the Miners wanted.

"I wanted to get the game to a 94-foot game because I thought that late in the game, maybe fatigue would set in with (Hawai'i's) perimeter shooting," Sadler said.

Sure enough, Hawai'i shot 40 percent in the second half after shooting 48.1 percent in the first half. The 'Bows finished at 44.2 percent for the game, while the Miners were 46.6 percent.

It also helped UTEP's cause to have All-WAC point guard Rivera on its side. He shot 7 of 10 from the field and added five assists and five rebounds.

"I think we have the best point guard in the country," Sadler said. "You put (Rivera) on Hawai'i's team and they're a top 15, top 10 team in the country."

Hawai'i, which was the No. 7 seed in the tournament, was playing for the second time in three days. As the No. 2 seed, UTEP had a bye into the quarterfinals.

"We're not a real strong ball club," Wallace said. "And these guys, I think, wore down more on me with the season."

The Miners also drained 20 of 22 free throws. Thomas went 6 for 6, and Rivera was 5 for 5.

"You shouldn't miss free throws because they're free," said Thomas, who scored 66 points and grabbed 29 rebounds in the three victories over Hawai'i.

The 'Bows are considered an extremely long shot for an NIT bid, and Wallace said he is not counting on one. "We had to win this one and we didn't," he said.

However, UH athletic director Herman Frazier said he has submitted a bid to host an NIT game, though admitting, "it's remote at this point."

Wallace was not entirely down after the game, despite missing a chance to win the 300th game of his head coaching career at UH.

"These are great kids and they do work hard for me," he said. "I can't say they don't want to win because they do."