PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico men's basketball beat No. 19 MSU Denver, 93-84, Wednesday night at Steve Loy Family Foundation Arena. The ranked win is the first since last season's squad took down DBU on the road.
"We overcame a lot of adversity," said head coach Daven Võ after the win. "They kept their heads, and I was really proud of them."
The Greyhounds were well supported from the depth of the bench tonight. Junior
Jaden Clarke scored a game-high 23 points and secured seven rebounds.
Clarke scored six early points as soon as he checked into the contest. He helped ENMU breakout to a 27-16 lead with 9:15 remaining in the opening half. Towards the last five minutes of the period, Võ went back to the hot-handed shooter Clarke. The Bronx, N.Y. native added another eight points to his name over the next four minutes of game play.
The spark from Clarke helped Eastern take a 49-28 lead into the halftime intermission.
MSU Denver quickly found a way to create separation from ENMU to begin the second half. The Roadrunners went to Caleb McGill for the first four shots of the period. McGill proceeded to hit all four shots, including a trio of three-pointers. With the deficit at 14 points, the visitors had all the confidence on their shoulders.
Midway through the second frame, MSU Denver got the game within one point. From there, ENMU went on a 10-0 run courtesy of smarter defensive stops and sharing the basketball offensively.
Five of the ten points came from Clarke while
Treyvon Byrd and
Cooper Jackson made jump shots and
Mario Whitley added a free throw. Prior to the 10-0 run, Jackson had gone away from the court after getting hurt earlier in the second half. The vital defensive pressure that Jackson typically brings to ENMU was missing during the Roadrunners race to get the contest within reach. The team's leader in steals being away from the court proved to be a factor in MSU Denver getting the matchup within a point.
Once Jackson got back on the floor, the game shifted tremendously in the Greyhounds favor. The Lawrence, Kan. native finished the game with 14 points, six steals, and four assists. He leads the Lone Star Conference with 19 total steals after another impressive performance to begin his ENMU career.
"He comes in and closes things for us," said Võ on the defensive menace. "He and Byrd elevated the game for us in the first half."
Jackson picked up two of his steals in the first half and was a crucial reason why the Roadrunners turned the ball over a dozen times in the opening half.
Võ praised
Mario Whitley and
Cougar Downing after the game for "steadying the team." MSU Denver was able to get within one point, but the on-court efforts from the two seniors for ENMU paid dividends in the long run. Whitley scored 16 points with ten of them coming from the free throw line. Downing had 15 points with a team-best eight rebounds and five assists.
Six different Hounds (Whitley, Downing, Byrd, Jackson, Clarke, and
Jose Murillo) had a block in the win.
The schedule does not get any easier for Eastern New Mexico as No. 2 West Texas A&M comes to Portales Saturday afternoon. ENMU will look to earn back-to-back wins against top-20 programs.