PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico put on a show for Steve Loy Family Foundation Arena Saturday afternoon as they pulled off a 101-72 win over in-state foe Western New Mexico.

"The guys played well," said head coach Daven Võ after the convincing win. "We played with the same effort. There was no drop off."

Võ was quick to reference the result from Thursday night comparative to tonight's performance. Although the outcome was different, the effort had not changed for ENMU.

The two returning starters from the 2023-24 squad, Mario Whitley and Jose Murillo, continued a strong week of play with fantastic performances against the Mustangs.

Murillo led Eastern New Mexico with 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. It is just the seventh time in his collegiate career where he has scored 20+ points in a game. He has accomplished that feat twice in three days.

The Chihuahua, Mexico native grabbed seven rebounds, dished out four assists, and swatted two shots attempts. He came into the game leading the Lone Star Conference in field goal percentage and blocks per game. Murillo will continue leading the LSC in those statistics as he bettered his average in both of those categories against WNMU.

"It was a good game," remarked Jose Murillo after the matchup. "We played as a team."

Murillo was quick to recognize his teammates who gave him much needed confidence during today's game. He turned the focus towards his teammates as being options to throw the ball to when he is being double/triple teamed and also noted the strength in knowing that his fellow Hounds are eager to get a rebound on his rare misses from the floor.

The junior forward played a team-best 32 minutes in the win. One of his brightest moments was his ability to make high-energy plays. Murillo finished the contest with six dunks out of his nine total made shots.

Whitley now has eight double doubles this season after scoring 18 points and hauling in 11 rebounds. The Saginaw, Mich. native is tied with St. Mary's Lachlan Bofinger with the most double doubles in the conference. Entering today, only fifteen players in the nation had at least eight double doubles in 2024-25.

Eastern New Mexico dominated in four key areas today.

Firstly, the program won the rebound battle. The Greyhounds snagged 47 rebounds compared to just 29 for the Mustangs. Next, the team made 37-of-64 (57.8%) of their shots from the floor, while the visitors only sunk 21-of-67 (31.3%) in that department.

Eastern New Mexico proved that they like to play fast as they scored 18 points on the fastbreak compared to just nine for Western New Mexico. ENMU continues to be one of the top teams in scoring in the paint. They won that competition, 48-18.  

Western New Mexico ended up hitting eleven three-point shots but only finished 36.7% on deep shots. The Greyhounds attempted less three's (8-for-16) but the 50% mark helped them stay consistent in all facets of the contest.

The program was ranked third in the conference with 16.5 assists per game entering today and improved that mark by dishing out 21 total assists. Austin and Murillo both had four assists. Whitley, Cougar Downing, and Jaden Clarke had three each.

Also scoring in double figures for ENMU was Downing (14 pts), Austin (14 pts), and Austin Abrams (10 pts).

Eastern New Mexico will now go on the road for four-straight games. The first test will be a meeting with UT Tyler this upcoming Thursday.