Buffs hold off Hounds 98-87

PORTALES – West Texas A&M's men lead the Lone Star Conference in scoring at around 85 ppg, but the Buffaloes have done considerably better than that in their two meetings with Eastern New Mexico University this season.

And they've needed to, because the Greyhounds have put up some serious points of their own.

Thursday night, WT collected 12 three-point baskets while holding ENMU to 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, and it was enough to give the Buffs a 98-87 victory at Greyhound Arena. They won the earlier meeting 108-97 at Canyon on Jan. 14.

Three players did the majority of the damage – senior guard Julius Brown and junior guard Larry Wise with 28 points, and junior guard Zach Toussaint with 26. No one else had more than seven for the Buffs (17-6, 15-2 LSC).

"They were hot," ENMU men's coach Brent Owen said. "I thought we defended Julius Brown really well; he just made shots over us."

Brown went 11-for- 14 from the floor. Toussaint, who came off the bench in this one, led the long-range barrage, going 6-of-14, while Wise was a perfect 11-of-11 from the foul line.

Still, ENMU got off to a good start, leading 22-11 nearly seven minutes into the opening half. Except for a brief lead by the visitors, the Hounds stayed in front until an 11-0 surge over the final three minutes of the half gave the Buffs a 52-43 edge at the break.

WT then hit its first six shots after halftime and grew the margin to 66-49 with just over 16 minutes remaining before the Hounds (14-9, 9-8) began to mount a charge.

They got as close as 81-79 with just under 5 ½ minutes remaining, but Toussaint answered with a trifecta and Brown added one with 3:45 to go to cap an 8-0 run and all but put the tilt out of reach, handing the Hounds their first home loss of the season (11-1).

"I'm proud of the guys for fighting back," Owen said. "They just never quit."

He added that the high scores against the Buffs are the result of playing more up-tempo against them than most teams are willing to do.

"I felt like (coming in) we were playing well enough in transition," Owen said. "I didn't really want to change what we do."

All five starters scored in double digits for ENMU, led by junior guard Greg Johnson with 21 points. Sophomore forward Errol White added 18 points, junior forward Jahcoree Ealy posted his second double-double of the campaign with 15 points and a season-high 10 assists, senior guard Eze Dike added 13 tallies and freshman forward Jose Murillo just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes before fouling out.

ENMU's starters combined for 158 minutes, an average of nearly 32 per player.

The Hounds, currently holding the No. 7 seed in the upcoming eight-team LSC tournament, were slated to complete a four-game homestand on Saturday against third-place Lubbock Christian, which lost at Western New Mexico 82-81 on Thursday night. ENMU travels to Oklahoma Christian on Thursday night and Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday before ending the regular campaign with home-and-home tilts against WNMU the following week.