Miners bury Rhode Island.(The Providence Journal)

EL PASO, Texas _ It was every bit as bad as the 25-point loss to Tulsa. It was worse, in terms of being competitive, than the loss to Providence College.

It was just an all-around bad performance by the University of Rhode Island on Tuesday night. The Rams, returning from their exam break, were clobbered by host Texas El Paso, 86-69, in an opening-round game of the 39th Sierra Providence SunClassic at the Don Haskins Center.

The game was not as close as the final score indicates. It was never a contest. Only the fact that UTEP called off the dogs in the final five minutes, after leading by as many as 29, made the final score respectable.

UTEP (8-2) cruised to a 26-point lead by halftime as it dominated in every phase and sent URI (3-8) to …