Men's Basketball 2/5/2020 4:31:00 PM

Greyhounds On the Road For Matchups Against Angelo State & Lubbock Christian

PORTALES, N.M . - Eastern New Mexico men's basketball are headed to Texas to take on the Angelo State Rams and the Lubbock Christian Chaps.

The Hounds will first head to Angelo State on Thursday, Feb. 6 where they will look to take another a home court win from the Rams. Headed back west, the Hounds will stop and visit Lubbock Christian on Saturday, Feb. 8.With the end of the regular season in sight, both contests are important for the Hounds as the LSC will take the top four in each division.

LAST WEEK
After taking a win on their home court, UT Permian Basin came to the Greyhound Arena ready for a win. The Greyhounds forced UTPB to take their first timeout minutes into the first half as the Hounds broke out to a 16-8 lead. The second half proved to be a battle as both teams wanted another win in their pocket. The Hounds forced back to back turnovers as they slowly regained their first half led. Ibn Zaid went to the line with seconds left and knocked down all four free throws.Six Greyhounds hit double-digits as Mathew Mazique led the squad shooting a career high 14 points. The Hounds also out-rebounded UTPB 45-33 assisting in their second win over the Falcons.

In their next contest of the week and first for the month of February, the Hound struggled against Western New Mexico. The scoring differential never reached double-digits as the Hounds were unable to capitalize on an eight point lead with 13:35 remaining in the contest. Western New Mexico regained the lead with just over four minutes left to take a 67-66 win.

Senior Deng Kuany finished the week with 14 rebounds leading the Hounds from the glass in both contests. Kuany was one of six Hounds to score double-digits in the teams win over UTPB with 12 points for the contest. Mathew Mazique is seeing more time on the court as he hit a scored 21 points between the two contests playing a career high 22 points against UTPB. Jose Serrano followed Mazique scoring 13 points against UTPB. Serrano turned around and put up another 13 against WNMU.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Angelo State
Angelo State takes the second spot in the LSC Division I with a loss to West Texas A&M. The Rams are 10-4 in conference taking back to back losses against Dallas Baptist and Midwestern State early in the season. With the impressive work in an 88-82 win over UT Tyler where three Rams scored 20 or more points, ASU now ranks fifth among Lone Star Conference teams in scoring totaling 1444 points this season averaging 80.2 a game. ASU is also leading the conference with the help of Andres Ibaraguen averaging 40.5 rebounds a game.

Senior guard Turner Collins has hit double digits in every game this season except for one. Collins scored a season high 27 points against UTPB, and is averaging 16.1 points per game. Andres Ibaraguen is a play maker on both side of the court leading the Rams with 158 rebounds this season. Ibaraguen's averaging 8.8 rebounds a game ranking him fourth in the Lone Star Conference. The senior is also leading the Lone Star Conference with a 71.1 percent going 91-for-158 from the field.

Lubbock Christian
Lubbock Christian is 10-4 in the Lone Star Conference and is currently riding a four game winning streak. Taking down the nationally ranked St. Edwards University Hilltoppers by six points, the Chaps turned around and took a 12 points win over Texas A&M-Commerce. Last Saturday the Chaps struggled to take a three point win over UT Tyler. Tied at the half, Lubbock Christian trailed by nine points with two minutes left to play.

The Chaps are led by junior guard Lloyd Daniels who is averaging 15.7 points a game. After LCU's two road wins, Daniels was named Lone Star Conference offensive player of the week after scoring 34 points against Texas A&M-Commerce and 24 against UT-Tyler. Daniels is also ranked third in the LSC for his free throw and field goal percentage. Cameron Copley, a redshirt sophomore is averaging 9.4 points a game and 3.4 rebounds. Copley not only leads the Chaps in assists but is also ranked third in the LSC averaging 5.2 assists a game totaling 99 this season.

QUICK HITS
BREAKING GREYHOUND RECORDS
Junior forward Mathew Mazique is on his way to becoming a new Greyhound record holder shooting 92.9 percent from the free throw line connecting on 13-for-14 charity shots. The junior is currently ranked 9th in Greyhound history for a single-season free throw percentage. Mazique has not gone to the line in the last five contests and will need to brush up on his charity shots to hold his spot in Greyhound history. A player must make a minimum of five free throws for a spot in the record books. Mazqiue is currently second, among the Greyhounds, behind Nico Matheus who has gone 4-for-4 this season.

Brandon Meadows, junior guard from the Bahamas, takes the top spot this season for his three-point percentage of 52.2, going 12-for-23 from beyond, and is ranked seventh Greyhound history for a single-season three-point percentage. Meadows went 6-for-6 and recorded a career high 16 points, as Hounds took a 100-97 win at UT Permian Basin this past January. If the junior continues his performance he could knock former record holders out of their spots and become top ten in Greyhound history.

BLOCKING WITH COBAS
Yosnier Cobas has moved up in the ranks and now sits at number four among LSC competitors. The forward leads the Hounds with 19 blocked shots for the season averaging 1.0 a game. Cobas grabbed a career high 13 rebounds at St. Mary's and was also one point away from recording a double-double. The Hounds 76-69 win against the Rattlers was Cobas' second game recording 10 or more rebounds. The Hounds are currently ranked fifth in the Lone Star Conference averaging 3.16 blocked shots per game.

SHERROD HOLDS ONTO #4 SPOT
Junior Garrick Sherrod has proven to be one of the league's best at the free-throw line, ranking fourth in the Lone Star Conference for the second week in a row. Sherrod is currently shooting 81.5 percent (53-for-65) from the line this season and has made all free throw attempts in six games throughout the 2019-20 season. Last Saturday against Western New Mexico, Sherrod scored over half his points from the charity strip after connecting on 7-for-7 free throws.

ROAD TO THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Hounds have started the LSC tournament countdown with only eight more games to play in the regular season. The LSC will take the top four schools from each division, top 12 in the conference, to move on to the post season tournament. In current standings, the Hounds are fourth in their division and tied for tenth in the conference. Greyhound men will need to pull wins over UT Tyler, MSU, and Cameron to better secure their chance at a post season tournament contest. The Hounds will have home court advantage as Cameron and MSU come to Portales for the Greyhound's last regular season games February 27 and 29.