PLANO, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball won its third straight game with a 77-69 non-conference victory over Arkansas Tech at Spring Creek Gymnasium on the campus of Collin College in Plano, Texas Tuesday afternoon.
The Wonder Boys (2-5) jumped out to an early 9-5 lead two minutes into the opening half before the Hounds (4-4) took the lead back on a Zach Parker jumper in the paint followed by a three-point play by Nick Brown to make it 10-9 with 16:17 to go.
ATU responded with eight unanswered to hold a 17-10 edge with 13:23 left, but the Greyhounds battled back with a 10-2 run of their own over the next 3:55, capped off on a layup by senior forward Chukuka Emili at the 9:28 mark to make a 20-19 Hounds lead.
The Wonder Boys reclaimed the advantage with a 10-0 streak to take its largest lead of the game at 29-20 with 6:40 to go until the half, but the Greyhounds put together a strong response of their own. The Hounds outscored Arkansas Tech by a 10-2 margin over the following 3:12 to trim the deficit to 31-30 with 3:28 until the break.
After Tech increased its lead back to six at 39-33 at the 1:12 mark, the Hounds retaliated with a big Darius Sawyer putback dunk as well as a pair of free throws by Devin Pullum, sending the Greyhounds into the break with just a 39-37 deficit.
The Hounds offense was efficient in the first half, going 12-for-27 (44-percent) from the floor and went a blistering 6-for-11 (55-percent) from the three-point arc while converting 7-of-8 (88-percent) from the foul line.
Brown led the Eastern scoring with 15 points on 5-of-6 from the field, including 4-for-4 from the three-point arc.
The Wonder Boys built its lead up to as much as seven in the second half before the Hounds fought back with a pair of Parker free throws and then a Parker three-pointer on the following offensive possession to make it a 55-54 game with 11:51 left.
The two teams traded blows over the next six minutes with six lead changes and two ties. At the 5:18 mark, Parker knocked down a clutch three-pointer from the right side coming off an Isaac Maldonado screen to tie the score at 67. On the Hounds next possession, ENMU got a fortuitous bounce when a blocked shot ended up in the hands of Sawyer on the left side of the paint as he slammed home a dunk to give Eastern the lead for good with 4:22 left to make it a 69-67 edge in favor of the Greyhounds.
The ENMU defense clamped down over the final 6:10, allowing only one Arkansas Tech basket in a 13-2 run to finish the game. The Greyhounds limited the Wonder Boys to 11-for-40 (28-percent) from the floor in the second half and 5-of-23 (22-percent) from the three-point arc.
Brown led all Greyhounds scorers with 21 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from the three-point arc to go with five boards. Sawyer finished with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting while Parker rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the three-point arc.
Emili led the rebounding efforts with seven boards while Pullum turned in a team-high four assists.
The Hounds will now have 15 days off before returning to action on Wednesday, Dec. 19 for a 3 p.m. non-conference game at Regis.
