SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team was able to contest St. Edward’s in the opening half, but offensive struggles in the second half resulted in a tough 85-68 defeat to the Hilltoppers at the Ed Messbarger Tip-Off Classic hosted by Angelo State on Friday afternoon.
The Greyhounds (0-3) got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 14-8 advantage as a Nick Brown dunk at the 14:07 mark capped off a run that featured six different players scoring for the Hounds.
However, Eastern could not hold down the Hilltoppers (4-0) for long as SEU slowly fought back in the contest and eventually reclaimed the lead at 27-26 with 5:41 left until halftime.
On the following possession, Maurice Coleman knocked down a pull-up jumper to take back the one-point edge at 28-27, but St. Edward’s rallied with seven unanswered to take its largest lead of the half at 34-28.
The Greyhounds did not back down, as Eastern strung together a 7-1 run over the next 1:12 off a pair of Isaac Maldonado free throws and a Zach Parker layup before Devin Pullum buried a three-pointer with 2:49 to go, locking the game up at 35.
The two teams traded blows throughout the remainder of the first half and with Angelo State leading 43-41, the Hounds had the opportunity to go up heading into the half. However, Brown could not convert on a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer, keeping the Greyhounds down two heading into the break.
Eastern was outshot by the Hilltoppers in the opening half, as St. Edward’s converted on 54-percent of their first half shots to just 46 for the Greyhounds, but ENMU was able to take advantage from the free throw line by knocking down 8-of-10 of their attempts.
Early in the second half, Coleman knotted the game back up at 47 for Eastern with a three-pointer from the left side with 18:11 left to play.
However, the Hounds suffered through some cold shooting over a six-minute stretch as the Hilltoppers strung together 18 unanswered to hold a 65-47 edge. The closest Eastern could cut into the deficit was 13 with a Pullum layup with 3:43 to go to make it 79-66, but the Hilltoppers held on to win by a final score of 85-68.
Pullum led all Greyhounds scorers with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor while knocking down 3-of-6 from the three-point arc and buried all three free throw attempts while dishing out a team-leading three assists.
Darius Sawyer added 12 points on 3-of-7 from the field and converted on 6-of-8 from the charity stripe and Chukaka Emili rounded out the double-figure scorers with his second double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and ripping down 11 rebounds.
The Hounds will be seek its first win of the season tomorrow as Eastern will take on Jarvis Christian at 4 p.m. to close out the Ed Messbarger Tip-Off Classic.
