Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ODESSA, TEXAS — The Eastern New Mexico University men's basketball team spent plenty of time rallying Saturday afternoon against the Texas Permian Basin Falcons.
The problem was the early deficit the Greyhounds fell into, and could never quite escape in a 94-77 loss Saturday afternoon.
The ninth-ranked and defending Lone Star Conference champion Falcons (18-2, 10-1 LSC) had a commanding lead throughout the game, and consistently led by double digits.
Eastern New Mexico (8-12, 3-8) slowly chipped away at the lead throughout the latter stages of the first half, as well as the early stages of the second half.
ENMU shrunk the deficit to just six, 53-47, following a Zach Parker 3 with 18:32 to play. After trading baskets, Andre Hughes' jumper kept the Hounds within seven, but then consecutive missed shots - an Arcaim Lallemand layup and a Parker 3-point attempt, allowed the Falcons to cash in and extend the lead to 13.
From there, Eastern briefly cut it back to nine, but too much Falcon offense proved to be the difference on Saturday. UTPB shot 41-for-74 (55.4 percent) from the field, despite missing 12 3-pointers.
However, rebounding and shooting weren't the only things that UTPB did better than ENMU. Permian had 18 assists to Eastern's three, while also having more second chance points (25-11) and more bench points (30-25).
In the first half, the Falcons sprinted out to a huge lead. UTPB quickly went ahead, 17-4, thanks to James McPherson's trey and Sammy Allen's layups. That lead would soon become 33-17 with 8:40 to play in the half, before 3s from Parker and Brown cut the lead to 10.
Parker made 3-of-8 from beyond the arc, and went 9-for-18 from the field, to lead the Greyhounds with 24 points. And while three Eastern players finished in double-figures, the Falcons had six, led by Daeshon Francis' 20.
Josh Morris, meanwhile, had a double-double with 15 boards to go along with 17 points. UTPB swept the regular-season series over the Hounds with Saturday's win, have defeated ENMU at Greyhound Arena, 84-74 Nov. 30.
ENMU will return home this week to host both Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Commerce. The Greyhounds will play Tarleton on Thursday night, following the women's game. Eastern lost its last meeting to TSU in nailbiting fashion, 68-67, back on Dec. 9.
