Eagles topple ENMU men

EDMOND, Oklahoma — The Eastern New Mexico men’s basketball team was hoping to carry a five-game winning streak into 2019, but will instead go into the new year on a one-game losing skid.

The Greyhounds lost at Oklahoma Christian 72-62 Saturday afternoon, thanks in part to a poor rebounding effort — as in, getting outboarded 47-26.

Still, Eastern was down only 38-34 at halftime, but couldn’t keep the Cougars from staying in control during the second half and winning by 10.

Eastern dropped to 5-5 as a result, but will at least go into ’19 at .500 following a 1-4 start. The Greyhounds, who brought a four-game winning streak into the contest, were looking to match a five-game streak put together by the 2016-17 Greyhounds.

The host Eagles, meanwhile, improved to 5-7.

Darius Sawyer led ENMU with 15 points, and he tied Maurice Coleman for the team-high in rebounds (6). Nick Brown (12 points) and Isaiah Murphy (10) joined Sawyer in double figures.

Oklahoma Christian’s Marcus Blackwell paced all scorers with 16 points. Roderick Smith, Brian Carey and Jordan Box had 13 points apiece.

Eastern is done for 2018, and will return to action on Thursday in Silver City against Lone Star Conference foe Western New Mexico. Tipoff time is 7:30 p.m.

The Hounds will have three more road games after that, and aren’t scheduled to return to Greyhound Arena’s friendly confines until Jan. 17, when they face LSC rival Tarleton State at 7:30 p.m.

Eastern’s final 16 games on the regular season schedule are Lone Star Conference opponents, followed by a Feb. 27 exhibition at Grand Canyon University.