12/28/2018 | Men’s Basketball | Go Eastern Athletics

PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team will look to close out 2018 on a high note as the Hounds will travel to Oklahoma City to take on Oklahoma Christian on at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT

The Hounds won their first road game of the season and extended their win streak to four games on Dec. 19 with a 78-73 win at Regis. The Greyhounds led by 10 at the half, but the Rangers rallied to tie the game up at 73 with 1:27 to go. With 14 seconds left, junior guard Isaiah Murphy knocked down a three-pointer to beat the shot clock and give the Hounds the 76-73 advantage. After forcing a Rangers turnover, Murphy made a pair of free throws to seal the victory.

Sophomore guard Devin Pullum led ENMU with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 3-for-6 from the three-point arc and made all three free throw attempts. Junior forward Darius Sawyer tied a season-high 14 points and ripped down a season-high eight rebounds while senior forward Chukuka Emili rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points on 5-of-11 from the floor and seven rebounds.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

Oklahoma Christian enters the contest with a 4-7 overall record and a 0-1 mark in Heartland Conference play. In the Eagles last game back on Dec. 19, Oklahoma Christian dropped an 88-82 overtime bout against ENMU’s LSC rival MSU Texas in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The Eagles are ranked second in the Heartland Conference in scoring offense, averaging 83.2 points per game with four players scoring 10 or more ppg. OCU is led by senior guard Jordan Box, scoring at a 16.8 ppg clip while knocking down 43 percent from the floor, 41 percent from the three-point arc, and leads the team with 30 made free throws at an 88 percent rate.

Leading the rebounding efforts for Oklahoma Christian is senior forward Will Lienhard, who ranks second in all of NCAA Division II with 152 rebounds with the top rebounds per game rate in the nation at 13.8. Lienhard also ranks tenth in the nation with 26 blocks at 2.6 blocks per game. Junior guard Brian Carey leads the passing efforts with 33 assists and 3.7 assists per game.

HISTORY WITH THE EAGLES

The Eagles lead the all-time series against the Greyhounds with a 4-1 record, but Eastern won their last matchup on Dec. 15, 2017 with an 86-77 victory in Oklahoma City. Zach Parker helped lead the Hounds to victory with 13 points while Pullum, Arcaim Lallemand and Maurice Coleman each chipped in nine points. Prior to last season’s meeting, the two teams hadn’t played each other since 1977.

CONNECT FOUR

After getting off to a slow start with a 1-4 record and two exhibition losses, the Hounds have won four straight with a pair of LSC wins against MSU Texas and Cameron and non-conference wins against Arkansas Tech in Plano, Texas and a road win at Regis. The Greyhounds have gone 35 days without losing a game with their last loss coming on Nov. 25. Against Oklahoma Christian, the Hounds will be seeking their first five game win streak since the 2016-17 season when ENMU won five straight Lone Star Conference games between Feb. 4 and Feb. 23.

SINCE THE SEVENTIES

In their last game at Regis, Eastern picked up its first win over the Rangers since getting a 78-64 victory in Portales on Jan. 17, 1977 and it was the first ever win for the Greyhounds over the Rangers in Denver. In their prior game against Arkansas Tech, the Hounds got their first win over the Wonder Boys since March 10, 1970 when the ENMU defeated ATU 84-81 in Kansas City, Mo.

MAKING THE DIFFERENCE

The Hounds have found their stride both offensively and defensively during their four-game win streak. After the first five games of the season, the Greyhounds were averaging just 72.4 ppg while allowing 81.6 ppg but during the last four-game stretch, the Hounds are scoring at an 81.5 ppg clip while allowing just 71.8 ppg. Eastern has shot better from everywhere on the floor during the last four games compared to the first five, including 45-to-41 percent from the floor, 41-to-28 percent from the three-point arc, and 78-to-69 percent from the free throw line.

SAWYER STRIDES

In the last two games, the junior forward from Iverness, Fla. has made some big contributions for the Greyhounds. Through the first seven games, Sawyer was averaging just 5.3 ppg and scored in double-figures just once, a 12-point effort against St. Edward’s. However, Sawyer has strung together back-to-back 14-point games while converting on 11-of-15 (73 percent) of his field goal attempts.