FORT SMITH, Ark. – Eastern New Mexico men's basketball clinched a berth into the 2023 Lone Star Conference tournament with a 71-63 win over the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Saturday afternoon.

Visiting UAFS for the first time in school history, three Greyhounds had an extra special homecoming in mind. Jahcoree Ealy (Conway), Grehlon Easter (Little Rock), and Greg Johnson (Little Rock) are all from the Natural state. Friends and family of the trio filled the arena with Green and Silver galore.

The game started out with a quick charge from the Lions to go up, 5-0, over the opening three minutes of the contest. The score stayed steady as Eastern took a seven-point lead over five different occasions in the opening period.

At the break, Eastern held its largest lead of the afternoon, 42-34.

ENMU dominated the opening ten minutes of the second half as they marched to a 57-40 advantage with strong defense forcing six turnovers over the ten-minute timeframe.

With 83 seconds remaining, the Lions got the game within five, but that was as close as the matchup got from there at Eastern New Mexico solidified a berth for postseason play with a second road victory in-a-row.

"We've had a rough time up to this point finding ways to win on the road and I felt going into this week that it was critical for us to find a way to win away from Greyhound Arena with postseason right around the corner," said head coach Brent Owen after the victory. "Our guys really locked arms this week. Both games were a complete team effort."

Four different Hounds scored in double figures – Grehlon Easter (13 pts), Jahcoree Ealy (12 pts), Dwayne Chester III (11 pts), and Jose Murillo (10 pts). Eastern forced 20 turnovers while only giving up a dozen on the day.

"We played a tough half court defensive team tonight," said Owen on UAFS. "Fortunately, our defensive effort led to turnovers and transition baskets for us that I thought were the difference in the game."

Five players picked up two steals against the Lions. Those include – Easter, Ealy, Murillo, Chester III, and Błażej Czerniewicz. Eze Dike and Errol White were the only players for Eastern to record blocks.

Eastern New Mexico has two regular season games before postseason play kicks off in Frisco, Texas. Monday night, ENMU will host Western New Mexico for senior night. The team will head to face WNMU three days later on Thursday night to finish out the regular season.

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