The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team survived a furious final minute of action to secure a 70-68 win over Tarleton State on Saturday afternoon.
Eastern (13-12, 10-7 LSC) never surrendered the lead in the second half of action despite Tarleton State (18-9, 8-8 LSC) having a chance to take the lead with less than 30 seconds to go, but a missed lay-up by the Texans with 10 seconds on the clock and a key defensive rebound from senior Chukuka Emili kept the Hounds ahead in the crucial final seconds of the ballgame. The win marks the first time Eastern New Mexico has defeated Tarleton State on their home court since Feb. 8, 1996 and gives the Hounds a two game advantage over Tarleton State for fourth place in the Lone Star Conference standings.
Brown and the Hounds found their shot from behind the three-point line, shooting 50 percent (11-of-16) for the game, while Brown recorded a season-high six makes from long range in route to scoring a season-high 25 points. Those crucial makes from three-point range proved critical as Tarleton State made their run over the final minutes of the game and held the Hounds without a field goal make for the final 3:09 of the contest.
That basket from sophomore Devin Pullum at the 3:09 mark gave Eastern a 65-58 lead, before Brown converted on 5-of-6 free throw attempts in the final three minutes to keep Eastern New Mexico ahead the rest of the way in. Eastern led by as many as 13 points in the second half with just under 10 minutes to go and relied on a suffocating defense in the closing minutes to help pull out the crucial road win.
Eastern New Mexico limited the Texans to a 39.1 percentage (25-of-64) for the game and made 15-of-28 shots from the field in the first half to build a 36-to-30 halftime advantage. The Texans picked up the pace offensively in the final 10 minutes, making 14-of-29 attempts (48.3 percent) in the second half, but couldn’t find the answer to the Hounds defensive pressure when it mattered in the final minute of the game.
Pullum recorded 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, while Brown made seven of his 11 attempts on the night and added the aforementioned five free throws in the final three minutes to finish with his best scoring output of the season. Emili captained the Hound’s rebounding effort in the contest with nine boards, but wasn’t without support as five other Greyhounds recorded three or more rebounds throughout the game.
Senior Maurice Coleman guided the offensive attack well all afternoon, recording six assists for the game while Emili continued to effect shots in the paint, finishing with a total of three blocks.
Eastern New Mexico will now turn their attention to no. 4 nationally-ranked West Texas A&M on Tuesday night in Canyon, Texas, a rivalry game that is scheduled to be featured on ESPN3. Tip-off for that highly anticipated match-up is set for 6:35 MST.
