Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ENMU junior forward Jose Murillo looks for a path to the basket during Thursday's Lone Star Conference men's matchup against Sul Ross State at Steve Loy Arena. Murillo led the Greyhounds with 26 points in a 110-101 loss to the Lobos.
No one could have seen what was coming Thursday night at Steve Loy Arena.
Facing a first-year NCAA Division II program making the transition from the NAIA, Eastern New Mexico University's men were swept under by Sul Ross State in a stunning 110-101 Lone Star Conference decision at Steve Loy Arena.
Senior guard Ethan Yancy poured in 44 points for the Lobos (2-13, 1-9 LSC), who earned their first win in their new league and snapped an 11-game losing streak in the process. Ten of their losses this season have been by more than 20 points.
Other than a 129-23 rout of Navajo Tech – a team ENMU beat twice 133-33 and 160-40 – Thursday's output was 39 points more than the Lobos had scored in any other game this season.
Meantime, the Greyhounds (10-6, 5-5) were coming off a solid 80-70 win at Angelo State in their previous outing.
"We weren't prepared, and they were very prepared," first-year ENMU coach Daven Vo said. "The hungrier team won. They did a really good job of executing."
ENMU scored plenty of points, including a 59-point second half, and shot 58 percent for the game. But the Hounds fell behind 24-22 on Yancy's 3-pointer just over nine minutes in, starting an 11-0 run, and they trailed the rest of the night.
Vo said it all came as a bit of a shock.
"We expected to play well," he said. "To be honest, it didn't have much to do with our offense. Defensively, we just could not get stops. It was by far our worst defensive performance."
Six-foot-11 sophomore center Myles Amason scored 20 points off the bench for the Lobos, while senior guard Cam Clardy added 17 and junior guard Deon Brown tossed in 14. Sul Ross converted 38-of-46 free throws in the contest, including 28-of-33 in the second half, with their four top scorers combining for 38-of-44.
ENMU led 16-9 after six minutes, but it didn't take long for the tide to turn and when it did, the Hounds couldn't get the momentum back.
They opened the second half on an 8-4 run to close to 54-50, but the Lobos tallied eight of the next 10 points and kept the Hounds at arm's length from there.
"When we'd start to get close in the second half, we'd give up an offensive rebound," Vo said. "Credit to them; Yancy did a good job of getting open and making shots."
Sul Ross, shooting 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from distance coming in, went 30-of-61 from the floor in this one while converting 12-of-30 from 3-point range.
Junior forward Jose Murillo led the Hounds with 26 points while senior forward Mario Whitley added 21, junior guard Jaden Clark scored 17, junior guard/forward Treyvon Byrd netted 14 and freshman guard Mo Austin contributed 12. Three players fouled out for ENMU.
The Hounds hosted Western New Mexico on Saturday before beginning a four-game road stretch this week at Texas-Tyler on Thursday and at Dallas Baptist on Saturday.
