TOPEKA, Kan. – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team had a tough return to regular season play as the Hounds fell 94-56 at Washburn Saturday night.
Eastern (1-4) held the lead early in the first half after senior guard Zach Parker knocked down a three-pointer and senior forward Chukuka Emili slammed home a dunk to make it 5-4 with 18:10 to go. Over the next 10 minutes, the Ichabods pulled away by stringing together a 17-4 run to take their largest lead of the half at 21-9 with 8:07 left to play.
The Hounds surged back with a 15-4 run of their own that featured a pair of three-pointers from Maurice Coleman while Nick Brown trimmed the deficit to just one with a three-pointer with 1:50 to go until halftime to make it a 25-24 game. However, the Ichabods closed out the half with seven unanswered to take the 32-24 advantage into the halftime locker room.
The Greyhounds couldn’t muster a comeback in the second half as Washburn pulled away, outscoring the Hounds by a 62-32 margin to hand the Hounds their toughest loss of the season.
Parker led all ENMU scorers with 16 points and went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Brown was the only other double-figure scorer for the Hounds in the contest with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range. Emili finished just shy of a double-double, scoring eight points to go with 11 rebounds and Devin Pullum turned in a team-high three assists.
The Hounds will prepare to open Lone Star Conference play on Thursday, Nov. 29, as they host Midwestern State at 7:30 p.m. before taking on Cameron at 4 p.m. on Dec. 1.
