Tarleton State turns back Hounds

PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University men’s basketball team showed it has the motor to run with the Lone Star Conference’s best on Saturday, despite losing to Tarleton State 92-79 at Greyhound Arena in what turned out to be a wild game.

Eastern (4-7, 0-4 LSC) won in almost every statistical category, leading in rebounds, assists and steals and committing only 11 turnovers to 17 for the Texans (8-1, 4-0).

The Greyhounds were led by CorNell Neal with 20 points, while Marquise Harris added 13. Meantime, Tarleton had five players in double digits, led by Ridell Camidge with 24.

“That’s one of the more solid Tarleton State teams in the last five years,” ENMU coach Tres Segler said. “They made us pay tonight. If you make mistakes against them, they will make you pay.

“I came into this game wanting to win the statistical battle and we did that. With all that, in my heart I felt we should have won.”

With the game starting out at a frantic pace from the tipoff, Eastern found itself down by double digits early to the upperclassmen-laden Texans. The Hounds clawed their way back, though, cutting Tarleton’s advantage to 36-27 at the half.

Much like the first half, the second started out with Tarleton quickly building a 19-point lead. But Eastern again closed the gap behind several 3-pointers and key defensive plays to pull within five points.

At that point things took a turn for the worse, starting with Segler drawing a technical foul from the officials midway through the half. Until that point, Tarleton hadn’t shot a free throw.

Eastern’s Chaunce Hill and CoRnell Neal then received technical fouls, in addition to a another technical on the ENMU bench. Tarleton eventually shot 29 free throws, sinking 23 of them to put the game away.

“I think a lot of it is that to win in the LSC, you have to do something extraordinarily well,” Segler said. “Against Tarleton State, perennially at the top of the league, you have to do many things extraordinarily well. So, for us to be able to win a game like that we have to be right on the edge of raw emotion.

“Obviously when that happens, you flirt with bigger mistakes. Our raw energy and our will to win overran our thought process.”

The Hounds return to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they host Lubbock Christian.