PORTALES, NM - Eastern New Mexico men's basketball have left town for their last scheduled conference road trip of the season. The Hounds will first visit Texas A&M-Commerce for a Thursday, Feb. 20th tip before a Saturday, Feb. 22 matchup against UT Tyler. 

LAST WEEK 

Greyhounds went 1-1 last weekend after starting out with a 79-72 win over DBU. The Hounds recorded a season team high 50 rebounds to the DBU's 21 and only allowed the Patriots seven offensive rebounds for the night. The Hounds connected on 20-for-26 free-throws as a team, while the Greyhound bench was responsible for 59 points scored in the contest. Junior Brandon Meadows recorded his first double-double as a Greyhound finishing the contest with ten rebounds and 17 points against DBU. Meadows has posted ten or more points in five contests this season. 

Returning to the Greyhound Arena, the Hounds held their own in a well matched game against the Tarleton State Texans. The contest recorded 15 ties as both teams recorded four steals, six blocked shots and less than 11 turnovers. Junior guard Devin Pullum recorded another night with 20 or more points finishing the contest with 24 after connecting on four three-pointers. Pullum dished out three assists while also grabbing six rebounds for the night. Jose Serrano, junior forward, led the Hounds with 19 points after going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line against DBU. Serrano turned around and put up another 17 against the Texans taking his average to 10.5 points per game. Senior Darius Sawyer recorded a season high 14 points and eight rebounds against DBU. Sawyer has been shy in points this season but is still a key part of the Greyhound team with the height field goal percentage of the Hounds at 55.7%.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION

Texas A&M-Commerce

The Lions started conference play with a one point loss on the road to St Mary's. Returning home, Texas A&M-Commerce took an eight point win over the ranked St. Edwards Hilltoppers to get their season back on track. TAMC is ranked first in the LSC for blocked shots as the team is averaging 4.29 per game. The Lions have blocked 103 shots in the 24 games played this season. 

Jaret Von Rosenberg is entering his third year with the Lions after posting a 24-9 overall record for the 2018-19 season. Rosenberg took the Lions to the final round of the LSC Tournament and their third consecutive NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. The Lions posted a season high three point percentage of 56.0 in December at Tarleton State. TAMC connected on 14-25 shots from beyond the arc as Austin Granfstaff took four of the team's three pointers for the contest. Wayne Stewart, a senior guard, is an important piece of the Lions offense. Averaging 18.8 points a game, Stewart has posted 25 or more points in five occasions this season. Stewart is shooting 62.6 percent from the field, ranking second in the LSC while his free throw percentage ranks him fifth at 80.5 percent. 

UT Tyler

UT Tyler started Lone Star Conference play with three losses before recording their first win at Tarleton State. The Patriots have lost in overtime twice this season. A 96-98 loss against UT Permian Basin in late January and a 77-63 loss against Texas A&M-Commerce earlier this month left the Patriots hungry for a win. UT Tyler turned around and took a four point win over Cameron on their home court where two Patriots hit double hits as the team finished the contest shooting 52.1% from the field. 

Head coach Louis Wilson is in his first year with the Patriots. Wilson served as an associate head coach at Grand Canyon University for the 2018-19 campaign where the Lopes finished 20-14 overall.  The Patriots are led by Ty Glover, a senior out of San Bernardino Calif. Glover is averaging 16.9 points a game, totaling 388, and leads the Patriots in rebounds with 111 this season (4.8 a game). Glover has shot 100% from the free throw line in nine contests this season averaging 77.9 percent total. Junior guard Micah Fuller is a key player to the Patriot offense with 63 assists this season. Fuller scored a game high 36 points against UT Permian Basin after shooting 100% from the free throw line and 71.4 % from the three point arc.

QUICK HITS Junior guard Brandon Meadows recorded his first Greyhound career double-double after posting 17 points and ten rebounds to assist the Hounds in a 79-72 win over DBU. The Greyhound ended the night with three season bests; scoring, rebounding, and three steals for the contest. Meadows previously was one rebound shy of a double-double against Oklahoma Christian where the junior scored 12 points and recorded nine rebounds. 

20 Or More From Pullum
Devin Pullum has recorded 20 or more points in six games this season after his performance against Tarleton State last weekend. The junior guard from Little, Elm TX, went 9-for-15 from the field and 4-for-9 from the arc to finish the contest with 24 points. Previously this season, Pullum scored a season high 26 points at UT Permian Basin where the Hounds took a 100-97 win over the Falcons. The junior is averaging 13.0 points per game and has scored 298 points thisseason. Pullum will need to scored another 46 points in the Hounds next four games to match his sophomore year record.

Road To The Lone Star Conference Tournament
The Hounds have started the LSC tournament countdown with only four more games to play in the regular season. The LSC will take the top 12 in the conference, to move on to the post season tournament. The top four will be given a bye week for post season play and head straight to the LSC championships. While the remaining eight will either travel  or host to earn a spot in the LSC Championships.  The Greyhounds are currently tied for 12th with UAFS. The Hounds will need to secure wins over Cameron (14th),  MSU (15th) and UT Tyler (17th) to secure a post season tournament game.

The Greyhounds will return home for their final home court regular season matchups starting on Thursday, February 17th.