The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team will take on no. 5 seeded Tarleton State in the first round of the 2019 Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. MST.
The no. 4 seeded Hounds will be looking to win their fourth straight game over Tarleton State, including a possible third straight win over the Texans this season. Eastern New Mexico finished the regular season with an overall record of 13-13 and a conference record of 10-8, the most wins for the Greyhounds in the modern Lone Star Conference era.
Eastern won both games over the Texans during the regular season by final scores of 70-68 and will be seeking the first postseason conference tournament win for the Greyhounds since the 2002-03 season. Thursday night will be head coach Tres Segler’s second straight LSC Tournament appearance as a head coach after earning the eighth seed last season.
A CLOSELY CONTESTED RECENT HISTORY
No single opponent has provided more exciting match-ups for Eastern New Mexico in recent memory than Tarleton State, and it is only fitting that the Greyhounds must take down the traditional power for the fourth straight time in order to continue their best season in the modern Lone Star Conference era. The Hounds lost 12 straight games to the Texans over the course of 2013-17, and won just one game prior to that since 1993, but have turned the tides in the series in the last few years and have proven to be a consistent battle for the Texans.
The revitalization of the program under coach Segler has allowed the Hounds to defeat Tarleton State three times in a row now, but those wins have not come easy as the last five games between the two programs have all been decided by five points or less. Sophomore Devin Pullum knocked down a last second three-point shot in the first meeting this year back on Jan. 17 on a night in which the Hounds committed just 11 turnovers and erased a 59-51 deficit with 8:06 remaining on the clock.
The second match-up ended with the score 70-68 once again in favor of the Greyhounds, securing the first win over the Texans on their home court since 1996. Eastern never trailed in the second half of that match-up, but had to withstand a field goal drought for the final 3:09 of the game to hang on and win.
Senior Nick Brown recorded a season-high 25 points in that game while fellow senior Zach Parker led the way with 17 points in the first meeting between the two teams.
SCOUTING THE TEXANS
The Texans will enter the LSC Tournament winners of their last two contests, handily defeating Western New Mexico and UT-Permian Basin on the road to finish out their regular season schedule. Tarleton enters the neutral site contest on Thursday night with the Greyhounds a perfect 4-0 in neutral site games so far this season and have now won 20 games in 15 out of the last 18 seasons.
Thursday night will be the 17th straight trip to the LSC Tournament for the Texans, which is the longest active streak of any men’s team in the league. They have won the tournament three separate times and hold an overall record of 29-17 in the event.
The Texans finished the regular season giving up the least amount of points against conference opposition (67.1 ppg), but ranked eighth in the league with an average of 70.3 ppg. Junior Josh Hawley nearly missed out on taking home the league’s scoring and rebounding title, finishing second in overall scoring with an average of 17.4 points per game and first with an average of 10.1 rebounds per game. Fellow forward Jesse Hill has come on strong in assistance of Hawley in the second half of the season for the Texans, scoring 10 or more points in nine out of the final 10 final regular season games.
Hawley, Hill and sophomore Clashon Gaffney all totaled 30 or blocks during the regular season to lead a team that ranked third in the Lone Star Conference with an average of 4.17 blocks per game.
TOP 10 TERRORS
The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team had nine players ranked in the top 10 in individual statistical categories for the Lone Star Conference this season. Senior Chukuka Emili finished the year at the top of the league in total blocks (58) and also ranked third in the conference with an average of 8.0 rebounds per game.
Senior Maurice Coleman and sophomore Devin Pullum split the majority of the season at the point guard position, each ranking in the top ten in the league in average assists as well as assists/turnover ratio. Coleman ranked third with an average of 3.9 assists and recorded a ratio of 1.5 while Pullum averaged 2.9 assists per game and recorded a ratio of 1.2 for the season.
Coleman and Pullum each ranked in the top 10 in free throw percentages as well, as Pullum led the LSC with an 83.7 percent clip from the charity stripe while Coleman ranked fifth at 78.5 percent. Senior Zach Parker was the final Greyhound to rank in the top 10 statistically at season’s end, averaging 2.2 made three-point shots a game, good enough for fifth in the league.
HOUNDS IN THE TOURNAMENT
This year will mark the 22nd time Eastern New Mexico has qualified for the LSC Postseason Tournament in the program’s history. Thursday night will be the 29th game all-time for the Hounds in the tournament, during which time they have produced an overall record of 8-20.
The last win for the Hounds came back in 2003 in a 112-79 win over East Central on Eastern New Mexico’s home court when the league utilized a host-site format as opposed to the current neutral site tournament. Eastern New Mexico has qualified for the tournament 15 times since their last win, but have been defeated in the first round in each of those appearances.
Eastern New Mexico and Tarleton State have met four time in the LSC Tournament, with Tarleton getting the better of the Greyhounds in all four match-ups. The last match-up between the two teams was on Mar. 7th, 2013, a game in which the Hounds lost by a 72-59 final.
