Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CANYON, Texas — Eastern New Mexico University’s men escaped West Texas A&M’s weekend Thanksgiving Classic with a pair of last-second wins and a three-game winning streak.
The Greyhounds survived a wild finish against Nebraska-based Wayne State on Saturday, including a game-tying, half-court shot by Wildcats sophomore guard Vance Janssen at the end of the first overtime, to notch an 89-86 win in double OT.
ENMU (4-3), shooting just 55 percent from the free throw line entering the game, won it in part by sinking 33-of-46 foul shots as five Wayne State players fouled out. The Wildcats went with an eight-man rotation until losing two players to fouls in the final minute of the second OT.
Senior guard CoRnell Neal scored a season-best 29 points for the Hounds, going 11-of-14 from the free throw line. Senior guard Javaan Mumtaz, who finished with just six points off the bench, hit a key 3-pointer with three minutes left in the second OT to give the Hounds an 84-80 lead, and they held on from there.
Even with all the players lost to fouls, the Wildcats (1-4) rallied back to make a game of it at the end, with junior forward Jordan Cornelius and junior guard Matt Thomas hitting 3s, the latter with six seconds left to make it 87-86.
ENMU’s Chris Wyms then hit a pair of free throws with four seconds to go, and a last-second 3 by the Wildcats was off the mark.
Wyms finished with a season-best 18 points for ENMU, while junior forward Andre Hughes posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and junior forward Shawn Shelton finished with 10 points.
Junior guard Brian Goodwin led six Wildcats in double figures with 19 points, while Cornelius and sophomore guard Kendall Jacks each had 13 points and Jansen, Thomas and junior guard Austin Esters all added 11 points. Cornelius also had a double-double with 14 rebounds.
Wayne State led 32-22 at halftime and extended the lead to 15 on Goodwin’s 3-pointer early in the second half before the Hounds mounted a comeback. ENMU scored the next nine points before Luke TerHark’s 3 for Wayne State ended the run.
A dunk by Shelton pulled the Hounds to 47-44 with 9:41 left, and Neal’s 3 gave them a 51-49 lead at the 7:31 mark. The Hounds held Wayne State without a field goal over the final 4:20 of regulation and sent it into overtime on two free throws by Neal with 26 seconds left.
Neal hit 1-of-2 free throws with one second left in the first OT to make it 77-74, but after a timeout the Wildcats got the ball to Janssen for his half-court launch as time expired.
ENMU never trailed in the second OT, opening its biggest lead of the day at 86-80 on a free throw by Neal with 1:03 left. After Cornelius hit a 3, the teams exchanged possessions before Neal again hit 1-of-2 free throws.
Janssen’s 3 with six seconds left cut it back to one before Wyms was fouled on the inbounds pass by Cornelius — his fifth — and made both free throws.
