Hounds trounce NNMC

The way things are going these days, Eastern New Mexico University's men might not want to take a holiday break.

The Greyhounds (7-2) narrowly missed reaching the 100-point mark for the fifth time this season, but still had plenty to cruise past Northern New Mexico 97-67 in a game played at Clovis High's Rock Staubus Gym.

Playing without regulars Greg Johnson (finger) and Blazej Czerniewicz (ankle) due to injury, ENMU shot 62 percent (23-for-35) from the floor in the opening half and finished at 54 percent overall against the overmatched Eagles (4-13).

Junior forward Mario Whitley scored 20 points for the Hounds, leading three ENMU players in double digits. Two-time defending LSC player of the week Jahcoree Ealy followed with 18 points, while senior point guard Lyron Bennett added 17.

All 10 Hounds in uniform played between 15 and 28 minutes and everyone scored at least four points.

"I thought we had the right approach tonight," ENMU coach Brent Owen said. "Coming off a big win over a ranked team (104-94 over No. 7 Dallas Baptist on Saturday in Dallas), I was worried about a letdown. The only adjustment we made was to use pressure defense."

The game was tied 2-2 and 7-7 before the Hounds began to seize control. A 13-2 run made it 20-9 seven minutes in, and ENMU led by double figures for the final 23 ½ minutes.

Bennett said the team was glad to get away from end-of-semester tests for a while.

"Everybody's been stressing about finals, but we just talked about that and just tried to do what we had to do," said Bennett, who shot 7-for-10 from the floor and added five rebounds, six assists and two steals to his night's work.

ENMU has won five in a row since a buzzer-beating loss at Fort Lewis on Nov. 18, the Hounds' second setback to the Falcons this season. ENMU is also off to a 4-0 start in the Lone Star Conference.

"After that Fort Lewis loss, we just looked in as a team and said, 'Hey, man, we've got the talent,'" Bennett said. "I think we can really do something special this year.

"Being 4-0 in the conference is definitely big. The game against Dallas Baptist showed that we can compete against anybody."

Junior forward Emmanuel Taban and junior guard Reyes Herrera had 13 points each and sophomore guard Josiah Ramos added 12 for the Espanola-based Eagles, who were coming off a 76-71 setback at New Mexico State in an exhibition two nights earlier.

The Hounds host Navajo Tech – a team which lost to NNMC 91-50 earlier this month – in an 11 a.m. tipoff at Greyhound Arena on Tuesday before resuming LSC play on Jan. 4 at Texas-Permian Basin.