PORTALES, N.M. – A scoring frenzy led Eastern New Mexico men's basketball to a 102-75 win over New Mexico Highlands Friday night at Greyhound Arena.
All 12 players who saw action on the floor scored for ENMU. Five Greyhounds scored in double figures.
"I am really pleased with the start that we had," said head coach
Brent Owen after the win. "Anytime you can put up 100 points in a game you are doing well on offense."
The Greyhounds shot the ball well all night long connecting on 34-of-66 (51.5%) shot attempts.
Newcomer
Mario Whitley paced the Hounds with 22 points and ten rebounds off the bench. The Saginaw, Mich. native saw several open looks in the paint and connected on some midrange jumpers throughout the course of play. Overall, Eastern New Mexico scored 54 points off the bench with the group going 9-of-10 from behind the arc.
Another player coming off the bench made the most of his time on the court by setting a school record.
Junior Hodnett is the only player in ENMU history to connect on 6-of-6 attempts from behind the arc. A handful of players have hit more three's in a game than Hodnett, but none were perfect.
"I'm really happy for Junior (Hodnett) because he is all about the right things," said Owen on the Rio Rancho, N.M. native. "He is seeing all of the fruition of all that work."
Hodnett finished the night with 18 points, three assists, and two steals.
"I hit my first shot and my teammates started finding me," said Hodnett on his hot-shooting night. "Coach always says the ball is going to find the shot and that's what happened."
Eastern's defense played tight over the opening 20 minutes as the Cowboys only connected on 9-of-31 (29%) shot attempts.
ENMU forced 20 turnovers and converted that into 28 points.
Jaxon Koroll,
Junior Hodnett,
Lyron Bennett, and
Greg Johnson finished with two steals each.
The game was in the favor of Eastern New Mexico right from the start. The Cowboys never held the lead and tied the game once with seven minutes left in the first half. Once NMHU got the score evened up, the Hounds went on a 10-0 run to escape giving away the advantage and the Hounds took a well-deserved 45-32 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Eastern made eight three-pointers. Overall, the program set the eighth highest three-point shooting percentage with a minimum of ten made shots.
Jahcoree Ealy continued where he left off from the 2022-23 season as he connected for 12 points and four assists. DII transfer
Lyron Bennett collected ten points and five assists in his debut with ENMU.
The Greyhounds will be back at home November 11 to take on No. 15 Fort Lewis. A $100 giveaway will take place during every media timeout.