ENMU men reach .500

PLANO, Texas - The Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team went on a run at just the right time. Crunch time, after all, is always the right time for a run.

As a result, the Greyhounds beat Arkansas Tech 77-69 Tuesday afternoon, breaking free from a 67-all tie late in the second half and closing on a 10-2 run to win their third straight while improving to .500 (4-4) after an 0-3 start.

The non-conference game played in neutral Plano was close throughout, and was tied at 67 with less than five minutes to go. An offensive rebound and putback by Darius Sawyer with 4:22 remaining gave the Hounds a two-point lead and, as it turned out, put Eastern ahead for good.

It was still 69-67 when the game reached a media timeout at the 3:45 mark, and nine seconds after the stoppage, Sawyer ripped down a defensive rebound. 20 seconds after that, Sawyer finished the possession with a jumper that gave Eastern a 71-67 lead. He was fouled on the shot, hit the free throw, and put his team up by five.

ENMU had Arkansas Tech by arm's length at that point. Tech crawled as close as four, 73-69, but Eastern scored the last four points to complete the 10-2 surge.

Sawyer wound up with 14 points - fueled by an 83-percent shooting effort (6-of-7) from the field - along with five rebounds. But it was Nick Brown tossing in a team-high 21 points to go with five boards of his own. Brown shot 67 percent (6-of-9) from the field, 71 percent (5-of-7) from three-point range, and 80 percent (4-of-5) from the foul line.

Zach Parker added 13 points for Eastern, with Chukuka Emili recording a team-best seven rebounds.

The Greyhounds now have a 15-day break, which will end when they play Regis in Denver on Dec. 19. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.

Tuesday's game was the start of seven straight road games for the Hounds. They will not play again at Greyhound Arena until Jan. 17, when they host Lone Star Conference foe Tarleton State at 7:30 p.m.

ENMU 86, Cameron 72 (Saturday) - Brown had a game-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead four in double figures for the Hounds, who were never seriously threatened by the Aggies (2-6) in reaching their first 2-0 LSC start since the 2012-13 season.

Maurice Coleman scored 17 points, while Devin Pullum added 13 points and six assists. Isaiah Murphy scored 11 points.