MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- — Kamari Lands had 22 points in Middle Tennessee's 77-67 victory against UTEP on Thursday.

Lands shot 7 of 14 from the field, including 2 for 7 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 6 from the line for the Blue Raiders (14-14, 8-9 Conference USA). Alec Oglesby scored 17 points while shooting 5 for 12 (4 for 10 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Torey Alston had 15 points and 11 rebounds, going 7 of 11 from the line. Chris Loofe had 13 rebounds.

Kaseem Watson led the Miners (10-18, 6-11) in scoring, finishing with 24 points and two steals. Elijah Jones added 19 points, six rebounds and two blocks for UTEP. Caleb Blackwell finished with six points and two steals.

Middle Tennessee took the lead for good with 16:38 to go in the first half. The score was 34-26 at halftime, with Lands racking up 12 points. Middle Tennessee turned an eight-point second-half lead into a 17-point advantage with a 9-0 run to make it a 43-26 lead with 17:18 left in the half. Oglesby scored 11 second-half points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.