PORTALES, N.M. (Men's Basketball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (17-10, 10-8 LSC) logged its tenth conference win and crushed Eastern New Mexico University's (13-15, 7-11 LSC) Lone Star Conference Tournament appearance in an extremely tight 53-51 victory on Saturday evening inside of Greyhound Arena.
There was nothing new to the game plan for Texas A&M-Kingsville—defending has always been the number one priority for this ball club. It was a low-scoring affair from the beginning. The Greyhounds opened the game with a triple, but the Hogs reeled off twelve straight points for the largest lead of the game and was ahead 14-8 at the 11:36 mark. Eastern New Mexico would not let the Javs get too far ahead and although they were 8-of-21 from the floor, they remained in the game by shooting a .857 percentage from the charity stripe. TAMUK held a narrow 29-24 lead at the intermission and was led by Will West and Marcus Frazier who both finished the half with eight points and accounted for four of the five made deep balls to contribute to a .385 three-point field goal percentage.
Even though the Hogs shot 8-of-22 from the floor and 1-of-6 from downtown in the second half, the Hounds had their own shooting woes as they made just seven field goals on 20 attempts. Shocking enough in such a close game, ENMU outscored TAMUK 27-24 in the second half. The difference in the game was the Javelinas holding the home team without a field goal for the final nine minutes. With the Hounds leading 51-50 and just seconds remaining on the clock, Duan Wright found himself at the line with the opportunity to put his team ahead and snap a Greyhound five-game winning streak. Wright knocked down both freebees with 19 ticks remaining and Eastern took a timeout to draw up one final play with its LSC tournament aspirations on the line. Predictably, the Javelinas smothered the Greyhounds out of the timeout to the point where they had to settle for a prayer from Joe Clarke that ultimately found its way into the hands of Caelan Neal with less than a second remaining. Clarke sent Neal to the line where he nailed one free throw and missed the other to let time run out with the Javelinas ahead 53-51.
Derrick Byrd paced the team with 11 points and tied Frazier for a a team-high two assists. West and Frazier was held to their eight first half points, but Trey Sumpter jointed them after recording five points in the second half to go along with his three from the first. Sumpter led the team with eight boards and matched Wright (seven points) with two steals.Â
The Javelinas now look ahead to postseason play. With an opportunity still in play to reach the South Central Regional Tournament, TAMUK will first have to compete in the LSC Tournament as the sixth seed where they will have a first round rubber match against No. 3 West Texas A&M University (24-7, 12-6 LSC). The Buffs won the first meeting this series in Canyon 80-65, but was upset in Kingsville 76-59. The tie breaker will take place at the Allen Event Center on Friday, March 3 at 2:30 p.m.
TEAM LEADERS
Texas A&M-Kingsville
Points: Derrick Byrd, 11
Rebounds: Trey Sumpter, 8
Assists: Two players with two assists
Steals: Two players with two steals
Blocks: Elliot Taylor, 2
Eastern New Mexico
Points: Two players with nine points
Rebounds: Byrale Carter, 7
Assists: Three players with one assist
Steals: Byrale Carter, 3
Blocks: Three players with one block
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Texas A&M-Kingsville 53, Eastern New Mexico 51
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (17-10, 10-8 LSC), Eastern New Mexico (13-15, 7-11 LSC)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville is 45-26 against Eastern New Mexico
Location: Greyhound Arena Portales, N.M.
Time of Game: 5 p.m.
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