PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico men's basketball blew past Cameron, 93-63, in a crucial contest in Lone Star Conference play.
"I think our transition offense has really changed over the last few weeks and it's leading to so many good things," said head coach
Brent Owen after the Hounds victory. "Our players are starting to gel together so I don't have to coach as much. They go make plays on their own because they know everyone's strength and it's a beautiful thing to see this time of year."
ENMU controlled transition scoring, 31-12, with major buckets coming from every player.
Two freshmen in particular made a difference for Eastern off the bench.
"I've noticed in both games that
Junior Hodnett and
Błażej Czerniewicz have really lifted our team when they have come into the game," said Owen on the freshman duo after the game. "Junior had an outstanding play above the rim tonight, but he also had a transition three that got us going. Blazej followed it up with a couple transition three's and those are many momentum boosters for us from two freshmen who are really making an impact."
Czerniewicz finished the night with a career-high 16 points, including nailing 4-of-6 attempts from behind the arc. He added nine rebounds for the Hounds who ended up outrebounding the Aggies, 47-40.
"I'm most happy that our team won tonight," said Czerniewicz after the win. "Everyone was enjoying the game with a lot of dunks, fastbreaks, and big shots. I'm happy with how I played, but the team did their job and that is what I am most proud of."
His teammate
Junior Hodnett might have had the dunk of the year. Check out the slam on Twitter below:
Over the opening five minutes of the game, ENMU and CU battled toe-to-toe in a matchup knotted at ten points.
Directly after a media timeout, Eastern took the reins in the contest and ran past CU off a 13-0 run, including five of those coming from Hodnett.
The Greyhounds continued to extend the lead and held a 47-27 lead going into the intermission.
Cameron did not go down without a second half charge for themselves. The Aggies scored the frame's first eight points and got the lead to as low as a dozen. The slight momentum swing did not faze the Hounds as they maintained control the rest of the game.
With four minutes remaining, coach Owen signaled towards the bench and signaled to check in
Sebastian Jimenez and
Alex Bossinakis into the game.
"It was great to see Alex have a nice up-and-under layup and then Sebastian come in and make two three's for us," said Owen on the last few minutes of the game. "I thought they came into the game with the right mindset. They weren't coming out just to shoot the ball the first time they caught it. They let it come to them and they played good defense."
The closing minutes helped the Greyhounds secure a 30-point victory for the first time since Mar. 1, 2014 when the Hounds cruised past West Texas A&M, 94-63.
Greg Johnson propelled ENMU offensively with 28 points on 11-for-20 shooting from the floor. He drove well in the paint the entire night and had a pair of catch-and-shoot treys to maintain the Hounds solid attack.
As a team, ENMU sunk ten three pointers with four coming from Czerniewicz.
Errol White continues to excel on both ends of the floor as he hauled in a tough 14 rebounds and scored 11 points to help the team secure another win at home.
Jahcoree Ealy became another attacking point to watch out for as he scored 15 points on 6-of-10 from the floor. He also dished out a team-best five assists.
The defense forced the Aggies to commit 20 turnovers the Hounds converted the mistakes into 24 points. CU was held to just 18-for-58 (31%) from the field and did not have a player shoot above 50% on the night.
On a 13-game home winning streak, Eastern New Mexico welcomes in rival West Texas A&M into Greyhound Arena Thursday night with LSC postseason spots still up for grabs. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and the first 100 students inside the building will get a free hot dog.