KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team couldn’t stop a late second half surge by Texas A&M-Kingsville as the Hounds fell 68-59 to the Javelinas on Saturday.
With the loss, the Hounds (6-8, 3-3 Lone Star Conference) wrapped up their seven game road trip over the last 41 days with three consecutive losses, but finished with a 3-4 overall mark during the stretch.
In Saturday’s game, it appeared that the two teams were going to have yet another classic match as the last three contests between the Hounds and Javelinas came down to the wire.
Both offenses struggled out of the gate, but Kingsville pulled out to the early lead with the first two scores in the first half to make it a 4-0 game.
Senior guard Zach Parker broke the Hounds out of their early scoring slump with a three-pointer from the right side with 16:42 to go and Nick Brown gave ENMU its first lead at 5-4 on a fastbreak layup off a Devin Pullum assist.
The Javelinas reclaimed the advantage on the ensuing possession before Nick Brown knocked down a long three-pointer from the left wing to give the Hounds the lead back at 8-6 with 13:12remaining.
Kingsville utilized a 5-0 run over the next three minutes to retake the advantage before the Hounds responded with a 9-2 streak of their own on a Chukuka Emili layup and a pair of Parker three-pointers, including a four-point play at the nine minute mark, to take their largest lead of the half at 17-13 with 8:03 to go.
The two teams battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the half as the lead changed four more times before TAMUK’s Darius Mickens tied it with a layup with just under a minute remaining. Pullum knocked down a pair of free throws to give Eastern a 28-26 edge with 49 seconds left. Despite the Hounds having the final possession, the Javelinas managed to draw a foul and knock down a pair of free throws with a second remaining to send the game into the half knotted up at 28.
The Greyhounds came out on-fire at the start of the second half, scoring the first six points off a pair of Darius Sawyer free throws, an Emili dunk off an Isaiah Murphy assist, and a Pullum layup off his own steal to give Eastern its largest advantage at 34-28 just 1:31 into the half.
However, the Javelinas had a fast response of their own as they answered with an 8-0 run over the next 1:22 to regather a two-point edge.
On the following possession, Sawyer corralled a Parker miss and flushed home a dunk to tie the game back up at 36. Following a timeout from ENMU head basketball coach Tres Segler, Sawyer came up with a steal and Parker converted a fastbreak layup to take the lead back once again with 16:22 to go.
Eastern held the edge for the next six minutes before the Javelinas tied the game up at 46 and took its first lead since the 17:07 mark on a pair of Robert Stevenson free throws with 9:10 remaining.
The Hounds tied the game up on two more occasions with a pair of Parker free throws and a Pullum jumper with 7:33 left, locking the game up at 50.
With just over seven minutes to go, Kingsville made the game-deciding run as they managed to outscore Eastern 8-0 over the next two minutes to take a 58-50 edge with 4:58 remaining.
The Hounds managed to trim the deficit to five at 64-59 with 1:17 left on an Emili jumper, but the Javelinas got a pair of crucial offensive rebounds from John Mouton with 50 seconds left and then again from Will Chayer with 22 seconds remaining, forcing the Hounds to foul. The Javelinas were able to put the game away at the free throw line, preventing Eastern from making a comeback.
The Greyhounds struggled against the Kingsville defense in the contest as they converted on just 20-of-64 (31 percent) from the field and 5-of-24 (21 percent) from the three-point arc. However, the Hounds were able to stay in the game due to some effective foul shooting, converting on 14-of-16 (88 percent) of their free throw attempts.
Parker led three Hounds in double-figures with 16 points while Pullum chipped in 13 off the Eastern bench. Sawyer rounded out the ENMU double-digit scorers with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and went 4-of-4 from the foul line while also recording a team-high nine rebounds and four steals.
The Greyhounds will look to snap out of their skid next week when they return home to face Tarleton State on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. before taking on LSC leader Texas A&M-Commerce at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19.
