Tuesday, November 18, 2014
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Leading the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team with a season-high 25 points as junior
John Gilliam. He was one of four Greyhounds in double-figures in their 94-87 victory over Western New Mexico in The Pit. The contest was part of the Division II Basketball Classic.
ENMU improved to 3-2 on the season while the Mustangs remain winless at 0-3.
Junior
Lawrence Domingo began the scoring barrage 16 seconds into the contest with a tip-in. WNMU followed with two jumpers in the paint in a little less than a minute. The Greyhounds scored 14 of the next 20 points as they made four three-pointers, three of which came from Gilliam while senior
Michael Randle converted the other shot from downtown.
Six straight points, four of which came at the free throw line courtesy of Marcos Castrillo, in a 1:06 span from WNMU up them ahead 23-22 with just over eight minutes until halftime. That would be their final lead of the game. Junior
Jason Clardy made two free throws 10 seconds later to start a 13-4 run for Eastern.
A three from junior
Deyton De La Cerda and a free throw by Randle gave the Greyhounds a 10-point lead with 38 seconds left in the first half. Castrillo made two shots at the charity stripe to cut their advantage at half to 45-37.
Following a layup by the Mustangs with 17:47 remaining in the game put ENMU's lead at six, they responded with an 18-5 run over a 4:10 span to take their largest lead of the game of 19 points.
WNMU came back and pulled to within 79-78 at the 3:30 mark following a three-pointer. Two free throws from Clardy and junior
Chris Wyms' second three of the contest increased the Greyhounds lead to six less than a minute later.
A 6-1 run by the Mustangs again cut Eastern's lead to one with 97 seconds to play. The Greyhounds closed the game by scoring nine of the final 12 points to seal the win with De La Cerda tallying the last seven for ENMU.
Gilliam was 7-for-10 from the field including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. He also made all six of his charity stipe attempts. Randle added 19 points, five rebound and four assists with no turnovers. Both De La Cerda and Wyms finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively, and had four assists apiece.
Coming off the bench with a team-high nine rebounds, all defensive, was senior
Jacob Straley. Domingo recorded a career and game-high three steals in only 12 minutes of action.
Pacing WNMU was Castrillo with 36 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 13-for-18 on free throws along with nine rebounds and three blocks. Gavin Wood was the only other player with more than 10 points with 14.
ENMU made 27-of-53 (50.9 percent) of their shots with 14 of their made field goals being threes, sixth most in a game since the 2000-01 season. They had a 37-33 rebounding edge and outscored the Mustangs 24-2 on fast breaks.
The Greyhounds are back in action on Friday when they travel to Canyon, Texas to take part in the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic hosted by West Texas A&M. Eastern will take on Emporia State on Nov. 28 and follow with Harding on the 29th. Both contests will start at 1:30 p.m. MT.
For the latest information on Greyhound basketball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU Athletics at GoEasternAtheltics.com.