EL PASO, Texas -- A career performance from freshman Corey Dean wasn't enough Thursday as Louisiana Tech fell 75-57 to Texas-El Paso before a crowd of 5,278 at the Don Haskins Center.

Dean, a hometown product out of Ruston (La.) High SChool, poured in career highs of 17 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn't enough to help a flat Bulldog team which hit on only 37.7 percent (23-of-61) of their shots from the floor. Dean's previous career highs were seven points and seven rebounds.

The loss was Tech's third straight as the Bulldogs fell to 12-12 overall and 9-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. UTEP moved to 5-20 and 3-12.

"For whatever reason, and I don't know what happened, we walked out and let UTEP beat us from the opening tip," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "We prepared hard and motivated hard. I don't know what's wrong but we've got to try to find a way to fix it."

While Dean came out hot, the other Bulldogs never seemed to get on track as the Bulldogs also struggled at the free throw line. Louisiana Tech connected on only 42.1 percent (8-of-19) of its free throw attempts on the night.

UTEP went to the perimeter early, pulling out in front 25-19 with 6:50 remaining in the opening half as the Miners had connected on 5-of-8 treys at that point.

The Miners moved out in front 28-20 on a 3-point play by Thomas Gehrke with 5:40 left in the half and pulled out to a double-digit advantage at 39-27 when Justino Victoriano put one in from under the basket with 1:11 remaining before intermission.

UTEP led 39-29 at the half and maintained the lead throughout the second half, going up 63-45 on a Giovanni St. Amant 3-pointer with 7:12 remaining.

The Bulldogs made a mini-run slightly later, with Darrian Brown's trey at the 5:52 mark of the second half cutting UTEP's advantage to 63-52.

Brown chipped in with 14 points for the Dogs while Lavelle Felton and Bruce Edwards added eight each.

Senior forward Antonio Meeking, who came into the contest leading the Bulldogs with 19.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, struggled against UTEP and totaled five points and four boards.

"Antonio wasn't very good tonight," Richard said. "When your leader looks that way it's not good for your team. None of our seniors looked good tonight."

Tech senior foward Zach Johnson missed the game with knee trouble as the Bulldogs used their ninth different starting lineup of the season. The Bulldogs tipped off the game with Brown, Meeking, Felton, Edwards and Dean.

John Tofi led UTEP with 13 points while Joe Devance added 12 points for the Miners.

Tech returns to action on Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest at Boise State.