Slow-starting Hounds ousted early

ALLEN, Texas — Eastern New Mexico University's men needed a good start, or at least a decent one, if it hoped to beat Tarleton State in Thursday's quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament.

What the Greyhounds got was a basket with a lid on it, or so it seemed — and it carried well into the second half.

The Hounds shot 35 percent from the field — just off their season-worst — and, despite a valiant comeback down the stretch, were unable to get all that close in a 72-59 loss to the Texans.

ENMU (12-15), seeded sixth in the eight-team event, trailed the No. 3 Texans 53-26 with about 13 minutes left before whittling the margin to 11 points twice in the late going.

Hounds coach Andrew Helton said his team simply dug too deep a hole early in the game.

"We were just playing poorly," he said. "I don't know what we could've done different (to prepare). It's just very disappointing how we played, but I give our kids credit for playing hard in the second half."

The Texans (18-9) meet seventh-seeded West Texas A&M, which upended No. 2 Cameron 65-50 on Wednesday, in a 1:30 p.m. (MST) semifinal game today.

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

ENMU's Rodney Blackmon puts up a 3-pointer over Tarleton State's Chuck Guy in the first half Thursday'sconference tournament game in Allen, Texas.

Junior guards Chuck Guy and Coleman Furst scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Texans, while junior guard De'Andre Church came off the bench for 12 points. Tarleton shot 47 percent in the first half, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range, in building a 43-19 lead.

Junior guard Rodney Blackmon scored 28 points for ENMU, hitting 4-of-6 from 3-point range and all eight free throws. Freshman forward Phil Henry came off the bench for 12 points.

"Rodney has meant about as much to a team as any player I've ever coached," Helton said. "He's definitely been the heart and soul of this team."

Blackmon gave the Hounds a 3-2 lead with a 3-point basket just over two minutes into the contest, but senior guard Brian Word's 3-pointer about a minute later started an 8-0 run and put the Texans ahead for good.

Tarleton outscored ENMU 20-4 over the final 7 1/2 minutes of the half to all but put the game out of reach.