PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico is coming off three-straight wins and are headed to Alpine, Texas to face Sul Ross State tomorrow afternoon. Before the conference matchup between a pair of west division foes, please take a look at the Starting Five:
1.) Keep On Winning: The Greyhounds pulled off a 97-70 win over Western New Mexico Thursday night. The victory marks the third time this season that the Hounds have held a three-game winning streak. A win on Saturday will be the first time Eastern has won four games in-a-row since last season.
Cougar Downing was a major offensive weapon in the win as he scored 19 points with five made shots from behind-the-arc. Senior
Mario Whitley added 18 points in the victory and
Jose Murillo contributed 16 points.
Jaden Clarke continues to shine off the bench as he scored 13 points shooting 6-of-10 from the floor. ENMU shot the ball extremely effectively as they made 51.4% of their shots. The Greyhounds held the Mustangs to hit on just 32.8% of their field goals. Another area Eastern dominated was in rebounding. They won that battle 49-32.
2.) Confidence from Deep: Senior guard
Cougar Downing has made a major jump in his game since the Greyhounds fell to Sul Ross State at home earlier in January. He has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight games since the matchup with SRSU. Downing has also raised his scoring average from 10.7 to 12.4 points per game in that span. The Kansas native is also leading the LSC in three-point field goal percentage making 46.6% of his shots from behind the arc. Downing is also inching closer to a major collegiate milestone. The senior has scored 1877 collegiate points and is inching closer to the coveted 2000 mark. He has connected on a three point shot in all but one game this season for ENMU.
3.) Trust In The Experience: With four games remaining in the regular season, Eastern New Mexico is trying to place themselves in the postseason picture. Two players have experience playing LSC tournament contests.
Jose Murillo has gone to the conference tournament in Frisco, Texas two seasons in-a-row. He is seeking his third appearance in the tournament.
Mario Whitley,
Jose Murillo, and
Alex Alfaro all represented ENMU at the 2024 conference tournament. Over the final contests of the regular season, ENMU needs to focus on trusting the experience of those who have played in the tournament. In the last game, those three players combined for 36 points. Whitley nearly earned a double double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Murillo continues to soar in both statistical categories that he leads in the LSC. He continues to better his total blocks mark and his elite field goal percentage. All three players will be crucial to the lineup as the program seeks a third-straight appearance in the LSC tourney.
4.) Making An Impact: Seven players scored off the bench in last Thursday's win over Western New Mexico.
Austin Abrams had a nice outing with eight points and six rebounds. He was supported by fellow guard
Cooper Jackson who had seven points on the night.
Kevin Rankin was called on to play crucial minutes for Eastern. The Texas native had four points with a season-high 17 minutes. New Mexican's
Alex Alfaro and
Brandon Kehres both played 13+ minutes and contributed on both sides of the court combining for four points and seven rebounds. ENMU currently boasts 26.71 points per game from their bench.
Jaden Clarke is one of five players for Eastern averaging double digit scoring totals despite primarily coming off the bench.
Cooper Jackson is another player with distinctive statistics that set him apart from others despite being a nonstarter. Jackson leads the LSC with 54 total steals.
5.) Lobos Howling: Sul Ross State is looking to make it two wins in-a-row over Eastern New Mexico. The Lobos had a 110-101 win over ENMU earlier this season in Portales. The newest member of the LSC is 3-0 in games where they have scored 75 or more points. They have not won a game scoring less than 75 points this season. SRSU is led offensively by Ethan Yancy with 17.2 points per outing. He scored a program-best 44 points in the win over ENMU. Sul Ross State has the worst scoring margin (-14.2) in the Lone Star Conference. They also rank second worst in the LSC in rebounds per game (30.9), field goal percentage (.398), and opponent field goal percentage (.465). Sul Ross State owns home wins over Texas A&M International and Navajo Tech this season.
