EL PASO, Texas – In the press box former Miss Texas Kelsey Moore yelled, “Run mother f–ker run,” and Joe Banyard did just that breaking off a 77-yard run to give the Miners a 22-17 lead and the eventual win over East Carolina Saturday in the Sun Bowl.

“(Banyard) is a heck of a running back and I know he’s going to take care of business when the balls in his hands,” quarterback Carson Meger. “We went on a short count…and it ended up working out. He got vertical real fast and that’s all she wrote.”

Banyard finished the game with 149 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown.  His 77-yard run in the fourth quarter was the longest of his career surpassing a 72-yard mark he had earlier in the season against Tulane.

Junior quarterback Nick Lamaison saw action only in the first quarter Saturday. On a first and 10, Lamaison rolled out of the pocket and took off running for the sideline. As soon as he stepped out of bounds, ECU linebacker Kyle Tudor hit Lamaison, which sidelined the QB for the rest of the game with a groin injury. There was no flag thrown on the field for a late hit, which erupted the UTEP bench and coaching staff.

“(Lamaison) has a pretty good groin pull and I was so pleased with (Meger) the way he handled it,” Price said. “I don’t know about next week. It is a pretty good pull.”

When Price was asked about the hit, he said facetiously that he didn’t see any controversial thing about it. He said he had a pretty strong opinion about it but he could not say anything about it because by NCAA rule, he cannot comment on the officiating.

The Lamaison play was not the only controversial play of the game. In the fourth quarter receiver Mike Edwards fumbled the ball on the 21-yard line turning the ball over. The play was reviewed but the ball stayed in the Pirates hands.

The next series ECU punted after seven plays giving the ball back to UTEP who scored on that possession.

“We basically held it up, looked each other in the eye and said ‘This is where we have to make it,’” Banyard said. “We had to come together as a team and that where we did it … it was a great birthday gift.”

The Miners closed the game with an interception from safety Travaun Nixon who picked off ECU quarterback Dominique Davis with just two minutes left in the game. The Miners took possession of the ball and converted a first down to end all chances of an ECU comeback.

In the first quarter both UTEP and ECU punted on the first drives of the game. On the second Pirate punt, Miners’ returner Mike Edwards fumbled the return and ECU recovered. Seven plays later ECU running back Michael Dobson scored on a two-yard run.

In the second half with 11:51 left, ECU’s Davis threw an interception to UTEP cornerback Darren Woodward who took it 44 yards for the touchdown. On the ensuing extra point kicker Dakota Warren missed the extra point. That was Warrens second miss of the game, which forced Price to bench him for the remainder of the contest. Kicker Mike Scott replaced him making one extra point in the game.

“It was a great job by those guys coming off the bench and doing that,” Price said. “Woodard hasn’t played for a month and came in there and made a big play…we had some guys coming off the bench and played really well.”

Sal Guerrero may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or follow him via Twitter @Salosaurus_Rex for all things UTEP sports.