PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball is set to host an eventful weekend of games as the Hounds are preparing to take on UT-Permian Basin on Thursday before challenging Western New Mexico on Saturday.
Thursday’s Greek Night game, presented by San Juan Village Apartments is set for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off while Saturday’s matchup with the Mustangs is a 60s Night game, presented by Pizza Hut and is slated for a 4 p.m. tip.
On Saturday, Eastern New Mexico will be celebrating the 50-Year Reunion of the 1969 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship team. The Hounds will be honoring members of the Harry Miller Era squad during the women’s game and at halftime of the men’s game.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
UT-Permian Basin will enter Thursday night having recently snapped a four-game losing streak in their most recent contest with a 105-99 win over Western New Mexico. The Falcons sit just a game back of the Hounds in the LSC standings at 4-6 and currently stand as the only team in the bottom half of the standings to have a winning overall record at 11-9. The Falcons rank 17th in all of Division II with an offense that averages 87.8 ppg. Their offense has been driven by an efficient all-around unit that is shooting 50.2 percent from the field as a team, ranking 15th in the country. Junior Jacob Ledoux leads the LSC with an average of 18.0 ppg and will be coming off of a 36-point performance in the Falcons win last week against Western New Mexico. Ledoux has failed to reach double-digit scoring numbers just once all season and dropped 15 points in the first match-up between Eastern and UT-Permian Basin back on Jan. 5. As good as Ledoux and the rest of the Falcon offense has been, the Falcon defense has been just as poor, surrendering 80.4 ppg to their opposition, second only to Western New Mexico for worst in the LSC.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Western New Mexico currently sits at the bottom of the league standings with a record of 1-9 and captured their lone conference win back on Jan. 24 in overtime against Texas A&M-Commerce by a final score of 74-73. The Mustangs next closest differential came back on Jan. 3 in the first meeting between Eastern and Western where two late free throw misses from the Mustangs sealed an 80-78 win for the Hounds. Western ranks ninth in scoring offense (71.7 ppg) and 10th in scoring defense (81.2) this season and will be led by Jon Reese-Woodson, who ranks in the top 15 in the LSC in both scoring (12.6) and rebounding (5.5). Senior guard Willie McCray is the only other Mustang to average double digit scoring with an average of 11.2 points per game.

THE BUZZER BOYS

Senior Zach Parker nailed a deep three-point shot off of an inbound pass from fellow senior Maurice Coleman with 0.7 seconds left to take home a stunning 81-80 victory on Saturday afternoon against Midwestern State. Parker and sophomore Devin Pullum, who made a game winner inside Greyhound Arena back on Jan. 17 against Tarleton State, have time and time again proved to be the go-to options when Eastern New Mexico is in desperate need of a basket. Parker has attempted a team-high 119 three-point shots while Pullum ranks fifth in the LSC in conference-only games with an average of 16.3 ppg.

A TALE OF TWO HISTORIES
The Hounds history with the two opponents coming to town this weekend is vastly different to say the least. Eastern New Mexico and UT-Permian Basin have met just seven times, with UT-Permian Basin getting the better of Eastern in all but one of those contests. The Hounds have never beaten the Falcons in Portales and have lost by more than 10 points in all three tries inside Greyhound Arena.
On the flip side of the coin, this will be the 102nd meeting all-time between Eastern and Western New Mexico on the hardwood, with the overall series in favor of the Greyhounds 55-46. The Hounds last lost to the Mustangs inside Greyhound Arena back on Nov. 22, 1999 and have taken home the victory in seven out of the last 10 meetings between the two programs.

A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS
With the second half of conference play officially underway as of this last weekend, the race for the postseason is in full swing. Eastern New Mexico will enter this weekend in sixth place with a conference record of 5-6, one game back of Texas A&M-Kingsville and one game ahead of UT-Permian Basin. Eastern will get their chance to increase that lead over UT-Permian Basin on Thursday night and will then get Texas A&M-Kingsville at home next Thursday night. West Texas A&M has built a two game lead over Texas A&M-Commerce and Angelo State with a record of 10-1 atop the conference, while Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville currently sit one game ahead of the Hounds at 6-5. A win Thursday night and Saturday night would be huge for possible seeding in the LSC Postseason Tournament for the Greyhounds as they would have a chance to overtake Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville for the potential fourth seed barring the results across the conference over the weekend.