ESPN Men's Basketball

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Jason Williams scored 14 points and had seven rebounds, while Edgar Moreno added 13 Thursday afternoon to lead Texas-El Paso to a 66-47 victory over Southern Mississippi in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament.

Miguel Ayala finished with 10 points and four assists for the Miners (20-8), the tournament's No. 3 seed, who will play UAB in Friday's semifinal. The Blazers (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today; No. 24 AP) defeated SMU 69-55 in Thursday afternoon's other game.

Williams connected on 7-of-13 from the field, helping the Miners shoot 50 percent in the game.

Southern Mississippi (10-21), seeded 11th, earned its way into the quarterfinals by defeating Tulsa 66-61 in the opening round.

But no Southern Mississippi player finished in double figures Thursday, as Mildon Ambres led the Golden Eagles with nine points and nine rebounds. Southern Mississippi connected on 37 percent of its shots.

UTEP built its lead as the Golden Eagles went almost 10 minutes without a field goal spanning the two halves. Before Travis Hall hit a baseline jumper for Southern Mississippi, the Miners had built the lead to 38-22 in the second half.

The Golden Eagles would get the deficit under double digits only once the rest of the way, when Hall scored on a drive with 13:42 left to cut the lead to 40-31.

UTEP held a 33-20 lead at the half as Williams scored 10 points and the Miners shot 52 percent.

Southern Mississippi did not hit a field goal in the final 6:27 of the half, contributing to a 39 percent shooting performance before the break.