Hounds rally falls short

PORTALES — An 18-point deficit early in the second half was too much for Eastern New Mexico University’s men to overcome Wednesday night.

link Staff photo: Joshua Lucero

Greyhound guard John Gilliam stops in front of two Texas A&M-Kingsville defenders after trying to to drive between them Wednesday night at Greyhound Arena.

The Greyhounds battled back, getting within three points late, but Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Don Thomas made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 32 seconds to seal a 75-67 Lone Star Conference victory at Greyhound Arena.

Thomas, a 6-foot senior guard, scored 19 points for the Javelinas (6-9, 1-2 LSC), while freshman guard Will West came off the bench to deliver 14 points and eight rebounds.

It was the first LSC win for first-year Javs coach Johnny Estelle, a Kingsville alum who got the job when Pete Peterson resigned after 17 seasons.

“We only have two kids who’ve played in the league, so we’re not there yet,” Estelle said. “We just have to try to get a little better every day.”

For ENMU (7-9, 0-3), coming off a 35-point home loss to Midwestern State on Sunday, it marked the first three-game losing streak this season.

“You can’t did a big hole like that,” first-year coach Stott Carter said. “We couldn’t score early; we just had a hard time putting the ball in the basket. You’ve got to find some kind of way to make a layup or a 3(-point shot).”

Kingsville extended an 11-point halftime lead to 47-29 with 16 minutes left on back-to-back 3-pointers by Troy Jones and Thomas. The margin was 12 with seven minutes left, but the Hounds continued to chip away and got within three on senior Darrelyn McCloud’s driving layup with 51 seconds to go.

West hit consecutive 3-pointers in the first half early to extend a one-point lead to 14-7, then added his other eight points after halftime.

“For a freshman, he’s a really good player,” Estelle said. “We probably got a little tentative (at the end), but Eastern New Mexico made some big shots to get it close.”

ENMU has two players down with injury in forward Lawrence Domingo (broken foot) and guard Jason Clardy (concussion), and another dealing with academic issues.

“We’re having to do things different and adjust to things we’re not ready for,” Carter said. “We knew it was going to be tough coming into this year, but it is what it is.”

Junior guard John Gilliam started slowly, but finished just shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. He also had three of the team’s five assists.

Meantime, junior guard Chris Wyms added 10 points and the other two assists. ENMU shot just 37 percent for the game, including 26 percent (8-for-31) in the first half.

“Any time you lose it’s not fun; at the same time, you have to be realistic about the Lone Star Conference,” Carter said. “I really feel like if we’d played a little better in the first half, we could’ve won this game.”