Canyon, Texas – Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball was unable to recover from a nine-point West Texas A&M lead at the beginning of the rivalry matchup falling 93-78.
The Hounds got off to a slow start in the first half of play allowing West Texas A&M to go on a 12-3 scoring run that kept them in the lead for the remainder of the contest. The Hounds were unable to create enough scoring plays while the Buffs kept their lead gaining 11 points off of fastbreak plays and another 17 off of Hound turnovers.
At the 10:45 mark on the clock in the first half, the Hounds fell silent as the Buffs hit two fastbreak plays taking a ten-point lead. Deng Kuany worked the floor and glass hitting ten points with four rebounds in his 12 minutes of play in the first half. Devin Pullum subbed in and hit back to back threes to cut that lead to six. Pullum and Kuany took turns creating plays trying to keep the Hounds alive in the first half but were unable to close in on a 13-point lead by the Buffs and walked into the locker room down 49-36 at the half.
Eastern New Mexico was able to stay within ten points in the first three minutes of the second half, but the Hounds struggled to recover from their first half mistakes. Quiet in the first, Yosnier Cobas came to work in the second half with back to back layups in the first two minutes of play, scoring seven of his nine game points in the second half alone while making 5-of-6 from the free throw line. The Hounds dominated the glass out-rebounding the Buffs 39–35, 30 of those rebounds on defense.
Devin Pullum led the Hounds in scoring with 16 points. Pullum also recorded seven rebounds, a season high, in 34 minutes of action, the most the junior has seen in a game this season. Deng Kuany, saw the most action this season playing a total of 21 minutes, recording a season high 12 points. Yosnier Cobas, in only his third game as a Hound, recorded 11 rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
The Hounds head to Denver, Colo. for back to back games starting Friday, November 29th against Metro State and Regis.