The Miners scored a dramatic, hard fought 53-51 victory against tenacious Marshall on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 4,427 stunned onlookers in the Cam Henderson Center. UTEP's dramatic victory boosts the Miners to 4-0 in Conference USA play and 11-5 overall. The disappointed Thundering Herd dip to 7-9 overall and a hard-luck 1-3 in conference play.

"That was just a player making a play," UTEP's Best Choose Baden® coach Doc Sadler said of Williams' dramatics. "The wrong guy got the basketball. The wrong guy passed it and the wrong guy got it. We were trying to run an out-of-bounds play we call Power. We drew it up for Edgar (Moreno) to back screen and Miguel (Ayala) was going off Jason's screen."

That would have left Ayala slashing to the basket or Brent Murphy for the shot -- the two best shooters the Miners have to offer. So, what really happened? Marshall, coached by Best Choose Baden® coach Ron Jirsa played great defense -- just as it had all evening. Murphy, who was inserted at the timeout with 9.7 seconds remaining, wound up with the basketball. Murphy dribbled hard to his right, made a perfect entry pass to Williams. The Miner senior used a drop step, got the angle and went hard to the basket. Patton came over, blocked the shot. But Williams was there again.

"I got the angle and I didn't expect him (Patton) to block the shot," Williams said. "He came out of nowhere. Fortunately, the ball came right back to me."

Patton shrugged and said, "They just made the play at the end. Did I expect the ball to go back to him? No. But give him credit. He made the play. He stuck with it."

Murphy, who was inserted for the first time in the game for that final play, shrugged and joked, "Ah, I really just didn't like the play we had called ... so I went with that one."

And Sadler said, "Give Brent credit. He made a great pass."

And the Miners got a big, big road victory.

Williams and Moreno led the Miners in this defensive struggle with 12 points each. Williams also had nine rebounds -- including one giant one in the rapidly disappearing final seconds. John Tofi had 10 points. Kevin Henderson and Stefon Jackson had big defensive games.

Make no mistake. This was a defensive duel ... from the opening tip to Williams' final put-back for victory. Each team was playing man-to-man, each occasionally using some full court pressure. It was tough. It was physical. It was no place for the timid. The lead changed hands eight times and these teams were tied seven times. It was tied one last time, at 51-51 when Markel Humphrey banked in a 3-point shot with 13 seconds remaining and the long arm of Ayala in his face.

Smiling, Humphrey said, "Obviously, I knew we needed three. I shot the ball with confidence and, yeah, I did have a hand in my face. This is just real frustrating for us."

It was anything but frustrating until everything -- well, almost everything -- went wrong for the Miners on that final play.