PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team will tip off the 2019-20 regular season this weekend when it takes on New Mexico Highlands and Fort Lewis in the LSC/RMAC Conference Challenge.
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
New Mexico Highlands is selected to finish fourth in the RMAC coaches poll.
The Cowboys won their first ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament championship last season. They went into the South Central Regional Tournament ranked as a #7 seed and finished the 2018-19 season with the most wins in school history, a 22-10 overall record and a 14-8 record in conference play.
Coming off their RMAC win the Cowboys fell 109-95 to no. 3 West Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament opener.
The Cowboys led the RMAC in offensive scoring with 1,897 points, averaging 86.2 per game.
Redshirt senior Raquan Mitchell, coming off his first season with the Cowboys, led the conference in scoring, averaging 21 points a game with a total of 461 points for the 2018-19 season. Mitchell also leads in three-point field goals made averaging 3.6 a game
Mike Dominguez has been promoted to head coach after being with the Cowboys for the previous two seasons as an associate head coach.
Eight newcomers fill the 2019-20 class including formerly ranked No. 3 shooting guard in the state of Arizona, Sammy Barnes-Thompkins.
Incoming forward Darius Harrison, 6’7, shot 84 percent from the free-throw line last year at Cowley College.
SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
Picked to finish ninth in the RMAC coaches poll, the Skyhawks will host five non-conference matchups until conference play.
Coming off an injury stacked 2018-19 season, the Fort Lewis Skyhawks hope their reconstructed roster of nine new players brings victories to the program.
Veteran guard Cesar Molina (Jr) shot a 63% from the line and will be a leader as one of the few returners from last season.
Redshirt sophomore, Brenden Boatwright is one to watch for the Skyhawks. The 6’9 forward from Carlsbad, N.M. shot 56% from the field and averaged 6.8 points per game.
Will Wittman, a 6’3 forward started in 10 of 27 games for the Skyhawks and shot 42% from beyond the arc while averaging 6.0 points a game.
The Skyhawks added junior transfer Logan Hokanson, freshman Akuel Kot and Junior Garbrah, junior Corey Seng, and a senior transfer Danny Garrick.
LAST SEASON
Eastern finished with their best season since 2003-04 under second year head coach Tres Segler, tying for fourth place in the league with a 10-8 record.
Hounds fell in overtime (87-85) to Tarleton State in the LSC Tournament ending their 2018-19 season
Former Greyhound, Chukuka Emili, 2018-19 Third Team All-Lone Star Conference, signed a professional contract with RSV Eintracht Stahnsdorf in Germany. Emili averaged 7.9 rebounds, 11.3 points per contest. Even though he played one season with the Greyhounds, Emili finished second in a single season in blocks and fourth in Greyhound career history in total rebounds.
2019-20 Preseason Story Lines
Greyhounds selected ninth in LSC Preseason Poll
Seniors Isiaah Murphy and Darius Sawyer are leaders on the Hound Stat board from the 2018-19 season; totaling 391 points, 160 rebounds, and 1,173 minutes played.
Returning junior Devin Pullum topped last season stats scoring 344 points and leads the LSC in free throw percentage with a .840% rate.
Greyhounds welcome 6’3 guard Brandon Meadows from Eastern Wyoming College, 6’7 forward Marvin Mapaga from Arizona Western, 6’7 forward Yosnier Cobas from Columbia Junior College, 6’7 gaurd Jose Serrano orgionally from Venezuela, but recently played at Southwestern College in California and a 6’4 gaurd from Texas, Nico Matheus.
Greyhounds expand their season to 30 games, 27 conference and three against Divison I opponents.
SAME HOUNDS, NEW LOOK
Greyhounds welcome 6’3 guard Brandon Meadows from Eastern Wyoming College, 6’7 forward Marvin Mapaga from Arizona Western, 6’7 forward Yosnier Cobas from Columbia Junior College, 6’7 guard Jose Serrano orgionally from Venezuela but recently played at Southwestern College in California and a 6’4 gaurd from Texas, Nico Matheus.
Schedule Outlook
Greyhounds expand their season to 30 games, 27 conference and three against Divison 1 opponents.
The Greyhounds have challenges ahead of them as they add three exhibition games starting out the season against the University of Tennessee.
NEW LOOK LSC
The Lone Star Conference expanded to 19 schools with the addition of Dallas Baptist Univeristy, Lubbock Christian University, Oklahoma Christian University, St Edwatds University, St Marys University, Texas A&M International University, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and Univerity of Texas at Tyler.
The LSC is now the biggest conference in the NCAA Division II
The LSC will be divided into three divisions and will play 22 conference games with division foes playing home-and-away series against each other and once versus the rest of the conference. The top four schools from each division will move on to the postseason tournament with the opening round being held on campus of the higher seed before the final eight teams battle it out at Comerica Center in Frisco Texas. The Hounds divison will include Angelo State, Lubbock Christian, UT Permian Basin, West Texas A&M and Western New Mexico.
West Texas A&M stays at the top of the standings for the 2019-20 season winning their first two games. They endined the 2018-19 season with a record of 34-4 overall and 17-1 conference.
Hounds on the Road
Starting off the 2019-20 season the Greyhounds fell to University of Tennesse in the season opening exhibition game 107-59.
In their next contest the Greyhounds trailed by 11 points at the half only to fall to the University of New Mexico in their second exhibition game and second game of the season.
On the road to Durango, Colo. for the LSC/RMAC Conference Challenge the Greyhounds face New Mexico Highland and Fort Lewis on November 9th and 10th.
The Greyhounds will not see action on home court until December 7 against Wayland Baptist University.
