RENO, Nev. -- Omar Thomas scored 29 of his 31 points in the second half Friday night to lead Texas-El Paso past Rice 85-77 and into the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
Giovanni St. Amant added 15 points on five 3-pointers and Jason Williams had 10 for the second-seeded Miners (26-7), who won their sixth straight in a bid for the WAC tourney title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
They'll face the winner of Friday night's other semifinal between Fresno State (16-13) and Boise State (15-17), which knocked off regular season WAC champ Nevada 73-72 in Thursday night's quarterfinals.
Michael Harris scored 19 points, Jason McKrieth added 17 and Morris Almond had 13 for third-seeded Rice (19-11), which had won six in a row and led four with less than 12 minutes left in the game.
Thomas, who scored two points in only eight minutes of play in the first half, was 8-for-14 shooting from the field and made all 14 of his foul shots. Rice outrebounded UTEP 35-28 and shot 55 percent from the field to UTEP's 47 percent, but committed 17 turnovers to the Miners' six.
Trailing 59-55 with 11:20 left, Thomas scored 10 points and John Tofi added five during a 15-5 run that put UTEP ahead for good 70-64 at 5:52.
Harris hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 70-67 but UTEP opened a 76-69 advantage on Filiberto Rivera's 19-footer with 3:33 to go.
Baskets by Almond and McKrieth made it 77-73 with 1:53 left, but St. Amant -- who opened the game with three consecutive 3-point goals -- made his fifth for an 80-73 lead and Thomas added four free throws and Williams one after that for the win.
Trailing 36-35 at the half, Harris had consecutive dunks on breaks to put Rice ahead 41-38 early in the second half.
Thomas followed with 13 points in a four-minute span to put UTEP up 53-51, but Harris made a 3-pointer and Almond hit a 19-footer to give Rice a 56-53 advantage. The lead grew to 59-55 when Harris converted a 3-point play with 11:20 to go, but Thomas scored 16 the rest of the way out to help seal the win.
