EL PASO, Texas – John Bohannon has made it evident on his Twitter feed over the last week that getting in additional practice and workouts were important to him.

On Wednesday, it appeared Bohannon saw the fruits of his labor finishing the night with a double-double as UTEP defeated East Carolina, 70-56, in the Don Haskins Center.

Bohannon started the game with much intensity and scored 10 of the first 14 points for the Miners. In the second, he added to seven more points and finished the night by tying his career high with 14 rebounds.

“My teammates did a good job of finding me early,” Bohannon said humbly. “I think I did an alright job of trying to get every board tonight … you just gotta go and want to get them and then get them.”

East Carolina (9-8, 0-4 C-USA) found a way stay in the game much of the first half by finding ways to get open looks from beyond the arc. That effort frustrated the Miner defense as the Pirates made six 3-pointers. UTEP (10-9, 3-2 C-USA), who shot very well going 15 for 21 in the first half, found themselves nursing only a 4-point lead at the break.

“We were really scared at halftime shooting 71.4 percent and being up four,” head coach Tim Floyd said. “You know you’re not going to continue that, so what are you going to do when the shots stop falling? I thought coach (Phil) Johnson made some great adjustments when we went high screen and roll.”

The second half was a different story as the Miners found a way to slow down East Carolina with an improved defensive performance while only allowing for three Pirate free throws. Much of the intensity in the second half came on the heels of a 14-2 run midway through the second where the Miners played unselfish basketball.

“The ball is moving for us. We’re sharing the ball,” Floyd said. “It’s a fun way to play and it leads to high percentage shots. It leads to guys getting to the free throw line. When guys are driving it for us, they’re looking for the next open guy. They’re turning down good shots in lieu of trying to get a great shot, and there’s a big difference.”

More importantly, the minutes played by Cedrick Lang proved invaluable as he found a way to nullify ECU’s Darrius Morrow.

“Cedrick Lang’s minutes in the second half were tremendous,” Floyd said. “We couldn’t get a handle on those guys defensively. He really changed it for us with those minutes in the second half with offensive and defensive boards and not allowing any post touches by [Darrius] Morrow, who is one of the better posters in our league.”

By the end of the run, the Miners found themselves with a 14-point lead. As the players continued to play selfish basketball, fans were treated to some high-flying dunks courtesy of Julian Washburn. UTEP’s final points of the game came off an alley-oop pass from Jacques Streeter to Washburn that ended up being a between-the-legs reverse dunk, a la something from Michael Jordan in the 80’s.

The crowd erupted in ovation the second Washburn slammed the ball through the rim.

“It was a bad oop and I just did something with it … it was kinda low,” Washburn said chucking as teammates ribbed him. “I’m glad he threw it … I was just going to dunk it regular but something made me just dunk it that way.”

UTEP shot 85.7 percent (18-for-21) from the line while out-rebounding the Pirates 39-19. It marked the Miners’ first rebound margin of +20 or more since Dec. 29, 2007 at Texas Southern (59-26).

UTEP finished the night with three other players scoring in double-digits in addition to Bohannon: Gabe McCulley added 16 points, Washburn had 12 points and Michael Perez had 10 points.

ECU’s Maurice Kemp and Miguel Paul scored 14 points each for the Pirates while Morrow finished with 12.

Chris Avila can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @chrisavila_01.