Eastern New Mexico Men's Basketball | 02.03.16 | Story by David Norton | Photo by Mati Tharp
PORTALES, N.M. — Greyhound Arena may need some new basketball nets as Javaan Mumtaz burnt down the previous equipment with his 7-9 shooting from the 3-point line, all the while leading the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team to a 74-71 victory of Texas A&M-Kingsville Wednesday.
Mumtaz ended the night with 25 points to lead the Greyhounds (6-14, 2-6 LSC) in scoring. The sharpshooter is now averaging 10.8 points per game for the season, while sitting at No. 2 in the Lone Star Conference for 3-point percentage, hitting 52 percent.
Kevin Saiz was the only other Greyhound to finish in double digits, recording 10 points on the night including a pair of clutch free throws to ice the game in the final seconds. Troy Jones for the Javelinas (9-10, 1-7 LSC) led all scorers and rebounders, grabbing a monstrous 18 boards and scoring 27.
Chaunce Hill finished with eight points and seven rebounds while Lawrence Domingo led the Hounds with 10 rebounds while also scoring nine points. Both Hill and Domingo made huge impacts on the game, Domingo with some key baskets in the final minutes and Hill with his emphatic put-back dunks throughout the night that got not only the crowd on their feet, but his team as well.
From what started out to be a slow paced, methodical back-and-forth matchup, came a high scoring shootout that came down to the wire. With six tied scores and three lead changes, the contest was anyone's for the taking coming down the home stretch,
Fortunately for Eastern, some very heads up defensive stops combined with some clutch baskets resulted in the three point ENMU win. The win not only marks the Hound's second LSC victory of the year, but also moves them into seventh place in the conference, leapfrogging TAMUK.
Besides Mumtaz' scorching from beyond the arc, as a team ENMU went 11-24 from deep, hitting 46 percent of their shots. From the field they were slightly better, getting 47 percent of their field goals.
Both teams were relatively even statistically, with the Javelinas taking an edge in the rebound column (43-37) and winning the turnover battle (11-16). The Hounds won out on assists (14-10) and steals (6-4). Brady Patterson led all players with four assists while committing only one turnover, handling the Javelina pressure well all night.
Eastern will now head to San Angelo, Texas, to take on the Angelo State Rams. Tipoff is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6, at 3 p.m. (MT). Remember to watch the post-game interview with Mumtaz and Hill by clicking HERE or finding the link on the side of this article.