LUBBOCK, Texas – Twelve three point makes carried Lubbock Christian over Eastern New Mexico Saturday afternoon. The Chaps stayed effective on the offensive end for a majority of the matchup to pull off an 88-68 win over the Hounds.
"They came out really aggressive," said head coach Daven Võ on LCU's quick start to the game. "When you are on the road you need to have an extra something and we didn't have it today."
LCU took a double-digit advantage fairly early in the contest as they led 16-6 after five minutes of play. Over that span three different Chaps made a three-point shot. Those included Ethan Duncan, Amondo Miller Jr., and Ty Caswell.
Over the next three minutes, Eastern made a small push to get the game within four points, 18-14. The run was aided by a trio of second-chance layups by
Jose Murillo,
Cooper Jackson, and
Jaden Clarke. That would be the closest margin of the game the rest of the way as LCU would go on a 14-0 run.
Lubbock Christian would continue pushing offensively to take a 41-19 lead with 4:37 remaining in the first half. Võ would make a slight defensive adjustment that helped ENMU cut the deficit slightly. At the break, LCU led 43-28.
Going into the second half, the Greyhounds wanted to be the first team to strike first. However, LCU continued their strong play and forced ENMU to go five minutes without a field goal to start the half. Before the first make by Eastern in the period, the home side had a commanding 60-32 edge.
Over the final 15 minutes of play, the closest the game got was 18 points (78-60) with 4:24 remaining.
"They shot the ball well and spread us out," said Võ in a postgame interview. "They are a good team and shot the ball really well."
Lubbock Christian made 52% of their shots from the floor and ended Eastern's six-game streak of making more than 50% of their shots. ENMU did not shoot the ball poorly, but still ended up a few shots shy of 50% as they hit 26-of-55 from the floor.
Eastern New Mexico only made three three-pointers in the game. All three came late in the second half.
Five different LCU players scored in double figures, including Ethan Duncan who had 19 points on six made shots from the floor.
Treyvon Byrd had 12 points for Eastern New Mexico. All 12 of Byrd's points came in the second half on strong drives to the bucket.
Jaden Clarke added 11 points, while
Jose Murillo posted ten points.
The Hounds found the most success from rebounding, but the effort was not enough to propel them to a victory Saturday afternoon. ENMU grabbed 34 rebounds compared to 25 rebounds for LCU.
Mario Whitley played a team-high 33 minutes. One of the biggest storylines is how the Chaps forced Whitley to make just one shot from the floor. He finished with seven points with five of those coming from the charity stripe. Whitley continues to be one of the brightest rebounders in the Lone Star Conference as he picked up 12 total today.
Eastern New Mexico will be back at Steve Loy Family Foundation Arena for a pair of matchups next weekend. They host Angelo State Thursday night and will face UT Permian Basin Saturday afternoon for banner day. The first 750 fans to Saturday's game will get a commemorative banner celebrating the 2024 LSC tournament champions.