PORTALES, N.M. – ENMU men's basketball won its fifth straight game, 72-64, over the University of the Southwest Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Arena.

The Mustangs held an early 8-2 advantage after knocking down three of their first four shot attempts, however an early 12-0 run by Eastern vetoed the strong start from USW.

Over that stretch, the Greyhounds hit three shots from deep range, including two coming from graduate transfer guard Eze Dike.

Southwest did not give up as they chipped at the deficit and ended up leading 29-20 with 5:49 remaining in the first half. ENMU went on another run, this time 14-2, to lead 34-31 at the break. The team found most of its success with layups inside the paint and three-point makes from Dike.

The Nigeria native scored a season high 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He added three rebounds, three assists, and two steals for the Hounds.

"Really good game all around for him," said head coach Brent Owen about the senior guard's performance. "He only had one turnover, he had the ball a lot tonight."

The second half started in USW's favor as they scored 11 of the first 14 points in the frame. During that span, Tre Thomas hit two shots from behind the arc and Dominique Bradley dominated inside the paint. With a 44-37 deficit with 16:39 remaining, Eastern needed another push. They got more than a push as a team, they overcame the Mustang advantage and held a 63-48 lead with 7:27 in the game.

The late march included a 19-0 run ending with a pair of three-point makes from Błaźej Czerniewicz. The freshman from Poland finished with ten points and four rebounds.

The lead got to 17 points twice, but the Mustangs battled until the very end and got the final score into the single digits.

"It seems like the beginning of the second half and the last four minutes of the second half have been problem areas for us," said Owen on the areas the Hounds need to improve on.

Over those time periods, ENMU has allowed opponents to score at ease despite ending the matches as the winner.

Also scoring in double figures for the Hounds against USW was Jahcoree Ealy and Greg Johnson with ten points each. Errol White led the team with ten rebounds and Dwayne Chester III swiped five steals on the day.

As a team, ENMU forced 23 turnovers and outscored its opponent 13-3 on second chance points.

"It's always good to win a close game," said Dike on the team's win over USW. "My teammates showed that we have the guts when it is go time in a close game."

With nonconference play wrapping up, Eastern New Mexico heads to St. Edward's for the LSC opener Thursday night. The game will be livestreamed on the LSC Digital Network and carried on 105.9 KSEL Country by Doc Elder.