WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Senior guard Zach Parker made one of the biggest shots of his career with three-point buzzer beater that sealed an 81-80 road victory for the Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team at MSU Texas on Saturday.
The two teams traded three-pointers to start the contest from ENMU’s Isaiah Murphy and MSU’s Trae Jones before Parker knocked down his first three of the game to make it 6-3 just 2:11 into the first half.
The Hounds (8-11, 5-6 Lone Star Conference) and the Mustangs (6-15, 2-9 LSC) traded blows over the next six minutes as two lead changes and two ties brought the score to 15-all with 12:28 to go. Eastern surged ahead with six unanswered off of buckets from Nick Brown, Murphy, and Deng Kuany to take its largest lead of the half at 21-15.
However, MSU Texas regained all of the momentum from a dunk by Tayvion Johnson that started a 13-0 run over a 2:25 stretch to reclaim a 28-21 edge over the Greyhounds.
The Mustangs built their advantage to as much as 14 at 39-25 with 4:24 before ENMU battled back to close the gap before the halftime break. The Hounds scored seven straight to make it 39-32, but the Mustangs kept the Hounds from clawing back any further to take a 43-34 edge into the half.
Eastern came out of the locker room with all of the momentum to start the second half, as a Parker three-pointer followed by an Arcaim Lallemand dunk off a Maurice Coleman assist sparked a 7-0 streak to shrink the deficit to 43-41 with 17:25 left.
Despite MSU Texas ending the run on a JuJuan Starks jump shot, the Greyhounds continued to chip away with a pair of Chukuka Emili free throws and layup by Isaiah Murphy with 16:01 left to tie the score at 45.
After the two teams traded buckets to keep the game tied, Kuany gave ENMU its first lead since the 8:44 mark of the first half off a pair of free throws to make it 49-47 with 13:31 left.
The Mustangs fought back to take a 56-54 advantage with 10:41 to go before the Greyhounds fired off eight unanswered that included four straight from Chukuka Emili to take their largest lead of the second half at 62-56 with 7:42 remaining.
MSU Texas clawed back once again to tie the score at 67, starting an incredible back-and-forth stretch over the next 5:17 that included three ties and six lead changes.
After Murphy put the Hounds ahead 76-74 with 1:37to go, Starks for MSU nailed a three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining to put the Mustangs back in-front. On the following possession, Coleman knocked down a go-ahead jumper with 39 seconds remaining to give ENMU the 78-77 edge.
The Mustangs followed suit on their offensive possession with a Jared Evans layup with 23 seconds left to put MSU back ahead at 79-78 with just 23 seconds on the clock.
Eastern came up empty on their offensive possession when Coleman’s layup was missed and rebounded by MSU’s Thomas Gilbert, prompting the Hounds to foul with less than 10 seconds left. Gilbert sank one of two attempts to stretch the MSU edge to 80-78.
It seemed the Hounds comeback efforts would be thwarted when the Mustangs forced a turnover, but the Hounds forced an MSU Texas turnover with three seconds left, giving ENMU one last chance to either tie or take the lead.
Off the in-bounds play, Coleman found Parker and his three-point shot with 0.7 seconds left found the bottom of the net to give the Greyhounds the miraculous 81-80 victory.
Emili and Parker led four Hounds into double-figure scoring with 13 points apiece. Emili turned in his fourth double-double of the season with a team-leading 13 rebounds while also blocking three shots.
Lallemand turned his second double-digit point performance of the season with 12 points to go with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Murphy rounded out all double-figure scorers, finishing just a rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
While the Greyhound struggled offensively, only converting 28-of-72 (39 percent) and 5-for-17 (29 percent) from three-point range, Eastern’s efficient free throw shooting (20-of-25, 80 percent) kept the Greyhounds in the game.
The Hounds will now look forward to returning to their home court next week as Eastern is set to host UT-Permian Basin for Greek Night, presented by San Juan Village Apartments at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7.
The Greyhounds will then have a big weekend ahead as Eastern will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 NAIA National Championship team on Saturday. ENMU will be honoring members from that team during halftime of the 1960s themed night, presented by Pizza Hut. The men’s game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip-off.
