Friday, November 14, 2014
SAN ANGELO, TEXAS — Senior guard
Michael Randle had a career night with 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including making all four of three-point attempts, as the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team defeated Texas A&M International 92-88 in overtime in the Junell Center on the campus of Angelo State. The game was the season opener for both teams and the first contest of the ASU Ed Messbarger Tip-Off Classic.
The Greyhounds open the season 1-0 for the first time in four years while also picking up the program's first ever win over the Dustdevils (0-1).
Starting the game off on a 9-5 run was TAMUI with Eastern getting a three-pointer from junior guard
Demetrius Balark and a jumper courtesy of junior forward
Jason Clardy. A tip-in by junior forward
Lawrence Domingo followed by a made free throw from Randle tied the game at 11 with 14:47 left in the first half.
After a three-pointer put the Dustdevils back in the lead 10 seconds later, the Greyhounds responded with a 15-1 run over the next 5:34 to take their largest advantage of the game 26-15. Six different players for ENMU scored during the stretch with junior guard
Chris Wyms leading the way with five points.
TAMUI fought back and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Greyhounds' lead at halftime to 42-41.
In the second half, Eastern stretched their advantage to 11 again as junior guard
Lathan Lieb made 1-of-2 free throws at the 13:58 mark. The Dustdevils outscored ENMU 21-9 over the next nine minutes to take a one point lead with less than 4:30 left in regulation.
Clardy scored five consecutive points in the contest to put the Greyhounds ahead 77-74 with 64 seconds left on the clock. After TAMUI tied the game on a three, Wyms hit a jumper in the paint to put Eastern back in the lead.
With four seconds remaining, the Dustdevils' Vadal Faneil had a tip-in with four second remaining. Randle had a chance to win at the buzz but the ball did not go in as he missed his lone shot attempt in the game.
ENMU scored eight of the first 10 points of the five-minute extra period to take an 87-81 lead with Clardy and Domingo doing all the scoring. Over a 1:54 span, TAMUI outscored Eastern 7-3 and closed their deficit to two with 24 seconds to play.
Domingo made 1-of-2 shots at the charity stripe for a 91-88 Greyhound advantage. Faniel missed a three-point attempt and Randle corralled the rebound to seal the game for Eastern. Randle finished by hitting one of his two free throw attempts for the final point of the contest.
Along with his career night offensively, Randle also set career-highs in assists (3), rebounds (6) and steals (2). Domingo added 18 points as he made 7-of-13 from the field with a 1-for-4 performance from beyond the arc. Clardy and Wyms contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.
On the boards, Clardy grabbed a team-high seven while junior
John Gilliam and Balark retrieved six rebounds as well.
Faniel recorded a double-double on the night with 22 points and a game-high 16 rebounds while also getting four steals and blocking two shots. Also reaching double-digits scoring for the Dustdevils were Anthony Alston (11), Terrell Funches (15) and Alex Smith (10).
The Greyhounds made 50 percent of their shots (33-for-66) while converting 13-of-30 three-pointers (43.3 percent). Their 13 made threes are tied for the sixth most in a game since the 2000-01 season and highest in a contest since making 15 last season against Northern New Mexico.
TAMUI was 34-for-74 (45.9 percent) from the field, 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) on threes and made 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) at the charity stripe. They also outscored Eastern in the paint, off turnovers, from their bench and on the fast break while ENMU had an 18-17 edge in second chance points.
Eastern did outrebound the Dustdevils 49-42 as all 11 Greyhounds that played had at least one board.
Next up for ENMU is a meeting with Oklahoma Panhandle State tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. MT in the both teams' second game of the Ed Messbarger Tip-Off Classic.
For the latest information on Greyhound basketball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU Athletics at GoEasternAtheltics.com.