Monday, December 1, 2014
PORTALES, N.M. — After seven games on the road and at neutral sites to begin the season, the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team will finally play their first game in the friendly confines of Greyhound Arena Tuesday night. The Greyhounds take on a senior-laden Texas-Permian Basin squad that leads the South Central region in scoring at 7 p.m.
ENMU enters the game with a 4-3 record while the Falcons are 4-1 and have won three straight.
Tuesday's contest will be the second meeting ever between the two programs. The Greyhounds won the only other encounter 52-41 on Nov. 30, 2009 in Portales.
Leading Eastern in scoring (14.3) and rebounding (5.9) is junior
Lawrence Domingo. He is second in the Lone Star Conference with 3.4 offensive boards a contest while totaling 24 for the season.
Following his second 20-plus point game in the last three contests, junior
John Gilliam has increased his scoring average to 13.4 ppg. His eight steals is the most on the team while he is third with 5.4 rpg. Also putting up double-digit points is senior
Michael Randle and junior
Demetrius Balark at 12.9 and 12.0 ppg, respectively.
Junior
Jason Clardy is retrieving 5.6 rpg and is the only ENMU player to start every game this year.
As a team, the Greyhounds are averaging 82.9 ppg while making 40.3 percent of their field goal attempts, 32.2 percent from beyond the arc and 64.7 percent at the free throw line. They are dishing out 12.0 apg and grabbing 42.6 rpg. Defensively, Eastern is averaging 5.7 spg and 1.4 bpg.
UTPB has five players averaging at least 10 points a contest and are led by Phadarius Taylor at 17.8 ppg. He also has a team-high 9.4 rpg with a double-double in three consecutive games and is making a team-high 65.2 percent of his shots and 82.2 percent at the charity stripe.
Madison Taylor enters with a 16.6 ppg mark and a team-best 14 made threes. His 2.4 spg is the most on the squad.
Starting the past two games for the Falcons, Malcolm Hill-Bey is averaging 13.2 ppg with 3.6 apg and 2.4 rpg. Stephan Thompson (13.0) and Lamar Falley (12.8 ppg) round out the double-digit scorers. Falley is putting up his numbers coming off the bench while Thompson is second on the team with 6.6 rpg.
Dishing out a team-high 6.0 apg is Thomas Feeney, although he has not played in the past two games.
UTPB enters the game averaging 101.6 ppg, the third highest in Division II and fifth most in all of the NCAA. They have made 56.2 percent of their shots, 48.0 percent from downtown but only 64.0 percent at the free throw line. On the glass, the Falcons hold a 17.8 rebounding edge with an average of 46.2 rpg. They are also averaging 19.8 apg, 8.2 spg and 2.6 bpg.
Live stats and video will be available for the game with links at the top of the article and on Eastern's schedule page. Doc Elder will also be broadcasting the game on 105.9 FM KSEL Country.
For the latest information on Greyhound basketball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU Athletics at GoEasternAtheltics.com.
