With the setback, ENMU finished league play as the No. 9 seed, losing the three-way tiebreaker to Angelo State and Midwestern State.
“Coming into tonight, I thought we had really fought the good fight to get into position to make the Lone Star tournament,” ENMU Head Coach Tres Segler said. “I felt like with the momentum we were going to bring to the tournament, we were really on a roll to upset some people. That was our plan and our goal. The game tonight was a hard-fought, defensive battle between two teams that played really hard defensively. Coach Estelle does a great job of getting those guys to commit to defense. On both ends, earning a basket was a really tough task. Both teams wouldn’t have had it any other way. We needed to do a little better scoring the basketball to win the game.”
The Greyhounds were led offensively by Lamarquis Thompson and Byrale Carter with nine points apiece. In his first start of the season, Carter, a 6-foot, 180 pound freshman, pulled down seven rebounds and went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Forwards Chris Lewis and Andre Hughes each added seven points and combined for 11 rebounds.
“Byrale had to step up in a really adverse situation,” Segler added. “We didn’t have Chris Wyms tonight and that really hurt us. He’s been one of our leaders all year and not having him was difficult. I’m extremely proud of the way Byrale handled himself and stepping into that leadership role. Lamarquis gave us some big baskets down the stretch. Andre once again helped us start the game on a good offensive swing. I’m so proud of the offensive growth he showed this season. He’s going to be a great player for us next year. His ceiling is very high. Chris Lewis snagged some huge rebounds on both ends. Joe had a frustrating night, but did a lot of things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. Javaan Mumtaz did a great job of playing on the perimeter tonight. He did a lot of good things and handled bouncing between positions very well this year. He took that challenge head on and I can’t complement him enough for that unselfishness. Chaunce once again impacted the game with a couple big baskets and blocks that were mission critical. He refused to be anything but a great teammate. I know if I would’ve given him more time on the floor, he would’ve done great things for us, but he did a lot of things behind the scenes that the outside world doesn’t see.”
In a game that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties, including five lead changes and four ties in the second half, ENMU came up just shy of the mark as Joe Clarke’s would-be go-ahead jumper with two seconds left bounced off the rim.
Seniors Chris Wyms, Javaan Mumtaz, Lucas Bowens and Chaunce Hill played in their final game in the home white uniforms. The class helped lead Eastern to its first five-game Lone Star Conference winning streak entering tonight’s contest, the first time an ENMU squad has accomplished such a feat since the 2004 season.
For the latest news on all ENMU athletics, visit GoEasternAthletics.com.
-Eastern New Mexico University-
Men’s Basketball
Will Edwards
