ODESSA, Texas – The Lone Star Conference is easily one of the toughest leagues in Division II and the programs in the west division make it extremely difficult. In their first west division game of the 2023-24 slate, Eastern New Mexico came short versus UT Permian Basin, 79-76.
It is the Hounds first loss since a buzzer-beater game-winner for Fort Lewis in Durango on November 18.
"This was out first taster of the Lone Star west and it's going to be a monster," said head coach
Brent Owen. "There's so many good teams on this side of the LSC and you need to bring you're 'A' game every night."
Tonight's monster? A UT Permian Basin program that came into the game with the strongest scoring defense in the league holding foes to just 63.5 points per game.
On the other hand, ENMU came into the night averaging the second highest mark in the LSC with 90.6 per contest.
The Greyhounds managed to score 76 points, but it wasn't enough to get past a Falcons squad who held onto the lead for more than 32 minutes.
Eastern trailed by as many as ten points at least four times in the first half. One of the reasons why UTPB earned such a large advantage early came on the shot of Maison Adeleye who drained back-to-back triples midway through the opening frame. A strong final two minutes for ENMU carried the Hounds to trail by just three points, 38-35, at intermission.
The scoring was distributed fairly evenly for both teams at the time, but the second half showed a different type of monstrous showing from a pair of top players for both squads.
UTPB's Lathaniel Bastian came into the game leading the league in double doubles and added another versus ENMU after going for 26 points and 14 rebounds. He had 19 points and nine rebounds in the second half alone.
For Eastern New Mexico,
Mario Whitley managed to score 13 of his 17 points in the second half and grabbed 9 of his 11 rebounds in that same timespan.
Two Arkansas natives paved the way offensively for ENMU.
Jahcoree Ealy went for 18 points and three assists on 6-of-9 shooting.
Greg Johnson had a strong game with 18 points and six rebounds.
Despite trailing by just three points at half and keeping it within six points throughout the period, ENMU only held the lead for six seconds in the 20 minute period. The advantage was held after Ealy drove through the paint and earned an and-one opportunity. Although he missed the shot from the charity stripe, he gave the Hounds their only lead in the second half.
The Falcons and Greyhounds kept it a one-possession game for the final 6:30, but the home side proved to stay strong at the end of the night pulling away with the three-point win.
Senior guard
Lyron Bennett joined Ealy, Johnson, and Whitley in double figures as he finished with ten points and three rebounds.
At points, the game was ugly as the two LSC foes combined for 43 fouls. This allowed ENMU and UTPB to shoot a combined 65 free throws.
The Greyhounds will now focus on the next matchup against another west division foe. ENMU will face No. 11 Angelo State Saturday afternoon.
"We have to move on and prepare to play a really good Angelo (State) team on Saturday," said Owen when asked about the next matchup. "Should be a great game."
The game will be streamed via the Lone Star Conference Digital Network.