Hounds outlast NNMC

PORTALES - Brent Owen's first win as the Eastern New Mexico University men's basketball coach was certainly an up-and-down ride.

First, the Greyhounds looked like they would blow out NAIA member Northern New Mexico. Then the Eagles stormed back and took a couple of late leads.

In the end, ENMU made enough plays to secure an 87-80 victory in Friday night's home opener at Greyhound Arena.

It wasn't pretty, but it was a notch in the win column.

"It's way more fun to learn from a win than a loss," Owen said. "But we still have a lot to learn."

Senior forward Yosnier Cobas led five Hounds in double digits with a personal-best 22 points while adding a team-high nine rebounds. ENMU (1-2) returns to action on Monday when it hosts Oklahoma Panhandle State in a 6 p.m. tipoff.

Cobas said he wasn't that nervous when the game looked like it might be slipping away.

"Not really," he said. "We've been in that situation before. We just had to weather the storm, and we did."

Junior guard Cornell Greenwood's 3-pointer broke the scoring ice 90 seconds in, and the Hounds went up 14-2 with 11 unanswered points.

"This can be a little bit of a challenging environment," NNMC coach Ryan Cordova said of playing in Greyhound Arena. "We kind of expected to (see) runs like that. We just had to weather it."

Trailing 32-16 with just over seven minutes left in the half, the Espanola-based Eagles (2-5) mounted a comeback which closed the gap to 42-34 at the break. They went in front for the first time 49-48 on a 3-point play by senior forward Tyrique Weaver with 13:34 left.

An off-balance 3-pointer by freshman guard Kentrell Pullian as the shot clock was expiring on the next trip put the Hounds back in front, and they built the margin back to seven a couple of times before the Eagles clawed back. ENMU, though, erased a three-point deficit with a 14-4 surge and held on in the final minute.

"That was our fifth game in seven days," noted Cordova, who is originally from Espanola. "For my guys to come out and play that well ... sometimes you just have to take the moral victories.

"I thought my guys showed a lot of poise."

The athletic Eagles were credited with 10 blocks, including four each by sophomore forward/post Damione Thomas and senior forward Tyrique Weaver. That seemed to affect the Hounds at times.

Owen said it's been a bit of a concern for the Hounds.

"We've been getting blocked way too much in the first three games," he said. "That's something that we can take from this game and work on in practice."

It didn't help NNMC when Thomas fouled out with 4:42 left and the Eagles leading by three.

"Their length got to us, but it's nothing we haven't seen before," Cobas said. "We knew (coming in) that their size was going to be a factor.

"(Winning) was definitely a step in the right direction for us."

Others in double figures for the Hounds were junior guard/forward Jose Serrano with 14 points, Pullian and senior guard James Jordan with 12 each and senior forward Marvin Mapaga with 10.

Junior guard Marc Howard Jr. led all scorers with 23 points for the Eagles. Junior guard Jamal Harris added 14, while sophomore guards Ricardo Zambrano and Joe Saterfield Jr. finished with 12 and 10, respectively.