Greyhounds get on winning track, top Rams

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University would not be denied for a second time in three days, as the Greyhounds managed to hold on to a second half lead in Saturday's 92-89 Lone Star Conference men's basketball game against Angelo State.

ENMU, who had blown a second-half lead and lost in overtime to Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday, saw a 16-point lead nearly evaporate against ASU.

In the end, however, Eastern (8-10, 3-6 LSC) simply refused to let another one get away.

"I'm obviously crazy excited and crazy grateful for a win," ENMU coach Tres Segler said. "Again, at one point, I thought we were gonna pull away, but (ASU head coach) Cinco (Boone has his players) too prepared, they're too good of a team, and he's too good of a coach. That wasn't gonna happen."

Zach Parker scored 17 to lead five in double figures, and hit three of the Greyhounds' 11 3-pointers on the day.

Maurice Coleman added 16, while Jamani Pierce posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Lamarquish Thompson scored 11 and Nick Brown 10 for Eastern.

Angelo State trailed, 71-55, with 9:25 to play in regulation. After both sides went back and forth trading points, the Rams still found themselves down by 13 with 4:24 to play.

However, they'd soon go on a 9-0 run, after a 3-pointer from Will Adler, and then a steal and rim-rocking dunk by Antonio Singleton to make it a four-point game.

Eastern would counter with baskets of its own, as Coleman's fadeaway jumper off glass extended the Hound lead back to six. But, Singleton — who had a career-high 33 on the day — drilled a 3, which was followed by a Brandon Williams lay-in to cut it to one, 88-87, with 53 seconds to play.

However, after both sides traded scores, Eastern found itself ahead by three with just 8.1 seconds to play.

The Rams got a pair of plays and 3-point looks, but shots by Singleton and Adler would not fall.

"Our group all year long has done a good job of continuing to play, no matter what the scoreboard is," Boone said. "We continued to do the same thing, but just too many mistakes down the stretch. (We had), I thought, two good looks to tie the game, but we just dug ourselves too big of a hole to begin with."

Angelo State also dug a big hole in the first half, down 30-15 at one point. The Rams would answer with a pair of 3-pointers in the late stages of the first half, including a Davion Cole-Johnson stepback trey as time expired to cut the deficit to 44-42 going into intermission.

And while ASU tied it up on multiple occasions, early in the second half, the Rams never led once. The Greyhounds finished with seven more rebounds and seven more second chance points, to go along with a 50.8 field goal percentage.

The loss dropped Boone, an ENMU graduate, 1-2 at Greyhound Arena.

"It means a lot (being back here)," Boone said. "I have very fond memories of Portales. I love Greyhound Arena; I played a lot of games here. It's just a great community, and this place means the world to me. My wife is from here, and we love Roosevelt County and it's always a good thing to come back. I just wish we'd win every time."

ENMU will now head out on the road to close out this month, with matchups against tough squads from West Texas A&M and defending LSC champ UT-Permian Basin. For Segler, this year's team has shown character and grit through adversity, as they managed to bounce back from yet another disappointing loss.

"I've been an assistant for eight, nine years in D-II and a head coach for two, and I don't know if I've ever coached a team that has the ability to take honest ownership," Segler said. "These guys, even with each other, will hold each other accountable, they'll ask about the mistakes they made, and then they're hungry to fix it."