SILVER CITY, N.M. –The Eastern New Mexico University men's basketball team earned a hard-fought road victory in Lone Star Conference play with a 78-71 win over Western New Mexico on Tuesday evening in Silver City. The win is the third-straight by the Greyhounds, improving their record to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in LSC action.
 
The victory snaps a 10-game conference losing streak and 12 game road losing streak. It was the Green and Silver's first road conference win since defeating Cameron on Feb. 12, 2014 in Lawton. The seven victories this season by ENMU are the most by and Eastern team since the 2013-14 team won 14 games.
 
"I'm so proud of the team," ENMU Head Coach Tres Segler said. "That's our first conference win in a long time. Western New Mexico played a great game; they really competed. They hit some big threes that created some space. Those guys making those threes were guys that don't typically shoot that well. I'm proud of the guys for going in and regrouping at halftime and finding a way to win a road game when we weren't really playing our best basketball. I'm so proud of the guys. This is a long road trip. We fought a lot of adversity, but I was proud of them for sticking together and playing as a unit."
 
As a team, the Greyhounds shot 40% from the court and 41% from beyond the arc. ENMU outrebounded the Mustangs, 40-33, and held a +10 edge on the offensive glass, leading to 14 second chance points. Additionally, the Green and Silver forced 22 turnovers by WNMU, leading to 19 points on the other end.
 
Joe Clarke finished with a game-high 22 points, going 7-for-8 from the field, 2-for-2 from three-point land and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Chris Lewis paved the way on the glass with 10 boards while CoRnell Neal distributed six assists in the road win.
 
"Chris Wyms made some big stops in some key moments," Segler added following the win. "He also took some charges that were huge for us. CoRnell Neal did a great job of distributing the ball tonight with six assists and helped us out on the glass with seven rebounds. Marquise Harris had a cold first half, but really came out tough in the second half. He got us going with some easy transition buckets to start the second half. Joe Clarke was our spark again from beginning to end on offense. Chris Lewis came up with 10 rebounds that we absolutely needed to win."
 
The first half featured several large runs by both sides, en route to the Greyhounds trailing 35-28 at the half. After a 7-0 run to start the contest by Eastern, the Mustangs followed with a 17-2 run from the 17:58 mark to 12:31. The Greyhounds answered with a 19-5 run to move the score to 28-22 with five minutes to go before the intermission. Western closed out the first half with a 13-0 run to take a seven-point lead into the locker room.
 
The Green and Silver shot just 28% from the field in the first half, while Western shot at a 48% clip. Clarke led the Greyhounds from the field in the opening period, netting 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with a pair of rebounds.
 
Despite the early shooting woes, Eastern shot 52% in the second half, scoring 50 points to secure the victory. Marquise Harris netted all 16 of his points in the second half to lead the Greyhound squad. ENMU manufactured 19 points off nine turnovers by the Mustangs.
 
Eastern returns to the court on Thursday, Jan. 12, to take on Cameron at Greyhound Arena. Tipoff against the Aggies is slated for noon. For the latest news, follow @ENMUAthletics and @ENMU_Hoops on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit goeasternathletics.com.