PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team will return home to Greyhound Arena for the first time in 45 days this weekend for two games scheduled against Tarleton State and no. 20 Texas A&M-Commerce.
Brought to you by Wells Fargo and the Roosevelt General Hospital, this weekend's contests will pit the Hounds against two of the traditional powers of the Lone Star Conference in Tarleton and Commerce, both teams that have seen time ranked in the national polls throughout this season. Eastern New Mexico will look to remain undefeated inside the friendly confines of Greyhound Arena having defeated Midwestern State and Cameron back on Nov. 29 and Dec. 1.
Admission will also be free for Eastern New Mexico faculty and staff with a valid ENMU Faculty/Staff ID.
LAST TIME OUT
Eastern New Mexico dropped both LSC games last weekend to Angelo State and Texas A&M-Kingsville, dropping them to sixth place in the conference with a record of 3-3. The Hounds struggled to get anything going on Thursday night, falling behind 22-10 early to Angelo State after the Rams made nine of their first 14 attempts from the field.
The Hounds trailed 49-28 at the halftime break and could manage to narrow the deficit down to just 13 throughout the entirety of the second half. Senior
Zach Parker scored a season high 22 points in the contest after hitting four three pointers to lead all scorers in the game.
Eastern recovered from the tough loss even farther down the road at Texas A&M-Kingsville, battling throughout the first half to a 28-28 tie heading into the halftime break. An 8-0 run with the game tied at 50-50 from the Javelinas with just under seven minutes remaining provided the hosts with the cushion required to fend off the Hounds.
Parker had an outstanding game once again for Eastern, posting 16 points while fellow guard
Devin Pullum recorded 13 points.
SCOUTING THE TEXANS
The Texans have been consistent throughout the first 15 games of the Chris Reisman era, who takes over for the first year for his legendary father Lonn Reisman, who coached Tarleton State for 30 years prior to stepping down last season to assume the full athletic director role for the Texans. The Texans only two blemishes in conference play have come at home against Angelo State and in their most recent LSC action against Texas A&M-Commerce on Jan. 10.
The Texans dominated Dallas Christian earlier this week 90-45, and have maintained that defensive pressure throughout the early stages of the 2018-19 LSC schedule. Tarleton has limited their conference foes to just 64.4 points per game in their five games in conference play, but rank ninth in the league in scoring offense (69.4 ppg) in conference play.
Junior Josh Hawley has picked up right where he left off a season ago after a Second Team All-LSC selection in 2017-18 and currently leads the conference in scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (10.0) and is coming off of a career high scoring output against Dallas Christian with 27 points. Hawley, sophomore Sam Marshall, and Clashon Gaffney all provide solid length in the front court for Tarleton State that can severely impact the game underneath the rim.
Guards Corinthian Ramsey and Randall Brody have started each game they have appeared in and have supported Hawley in the scoring efforts, averaging 13.5 and 11.1 points per game respectively.
HISTORY WITH THE TEXANS
Eastern New Mexico defeated Tarleton State for just the ninth time in program history last season inside Greyhound Arena 61-57, their first win over the Texans since 2013. Five of those nine wins in favor of the Greyhounds have come in Portales.
Both games last season between the programs were defensive slugfests as neither team scored more than 70 points in either game. Eastern knocked down all 11 free throw attempts and secured the win in the second game of the series last year despite not having a single scorer in double digits.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Lions will enter the weekend of play undefeated in LSC play before a critical Thursday night match-up with #16 West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas. Commerce has already taken down second and third place Angelo State and Tarleton State this year, and can strengthen their grip on the conference lead with a win Thursday night against the Buffs.
Currently ranked second in the D2SIDA South Central Regional poll behind St. Edward's, the Lions have put together eight straight wins behind the strong play of forward Tyree Robinson, who has posted double-digit scoring numbers in seven straight games, including two 20-plus point performances. Robinson and fellow standout Reggie Reid have led an offense that averages 81.0 points per game against Lone Star Conference opposition, while Reid has been particularly active in conference play with an average of 5.2 assists per game to lead the league.
Seniors Willie Rooks and Trey Conrod also average double-digit scoring on the year and have both directly contributed to an efficient scoring attack for the Lions that leads the LSC in turnover margin (5.20) and assist/turnover ratio (1.34) in conference play.
HISTORY WITH THE LIONS
The Hounds and Lions have split the last six games in the series with Eastern getting the better of Commerce in two out of the last three games inside Greyhound Arena. Last year's game at home for the Hounds against Commerce saw a 69-69 game head into overtime before back-to-back three pointers from
Lamarquis Thompson and
Nick Brown followed up by six straight made free throw attempts by Eastern resulted in an 85-81 victory.
Eastern will look to win two games in a row against the Lions on Saturday afternoon for the first time since the 2012-13 and 2013-14 season.
PLEASE JUST TAKE US HOME
Eastern New Mexico will take part in just their third home game of the season on Thursday night against Tarleton State despite competing in 14 games so far this season. For comparison sake, the next fewest home games this season for a team in the LSC has been Western New Mexico with four, while Tarleton State, Cameron and Midwestern State have all played on their home floor a total of nine times this season.
The Hounds have showed moments of brilliances in each game so far this year and to defend home court against two of the top teams in the league will provide a huge confidence boost to head coach
Tres Segler's squad after three straight losses.
WHEN IT REALLY MATTERS
With six games under their belt in conference play, the Hounds have been in the middle of the road both offensively (76.7 ppg) and defensively (79.0 ppg) this season against conference opposition. Eastern averages the third most offensive rebounds (12.8) per game this year, but ranks ninth in the LSC with an average of 20.3 rebounds a game.
To say the Hounds statistically have been average across the board in conference play this year would be spot on, but with the season reaching the half way mark this weekend, the only stat that will matter from here on in will be the number under the "wins" column.
NOT IN THIS HOUSE
Chukuka Emili has brought a different level of rim protection to the Eastern New Mexico defensive efforts this season and has totaled 27 blocks so far on the year. Emili has totaled the most swats in the LSC and ranks 28
th nationally in the category as well.
DON'T WORRY, ZACH IS BACK
Last year's leading scorer for Eastern New Mexico
Zach Parker has come back with vengeance in the last three games after being held to single-digit scoring figures in the three games prior. Parker has totaled 12, 22 and 16 points in the last three contests for the Hounds and has made at least three buckets from beyond the three-point line in each contest.
SWINGMAN SAWYER
One name to watch that coach Segler continued to speak highly of throughout the preseason was junior
Darius Sawyer, whose 6'5 frame and athletic prowess allows him the ability to play multiple positions on the floor, a luxury that has been taken advantage of in a variety of fashions for the Hounds this season. Sawyer has made an impact in a variety of ways, recording double-digit points in five out of the last seven games, collecting at least five rebounds in six out of the last seven games, and has recorded at least one steal, block and an assist in four games this season.
