ENMU men hope for Texas-sized upset

PORTALES — Maurice Coleman's jumper. Arcaim Lallemand's block. LaMarquis Thompson's defensive rebound. Without those things happening in the closing seconds of last Saturday's win at Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Eastern New Mexico men's basketball team would have narrowly been on the outside looking in for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for a second consecutive season.

Luckily for head coach Tres Segler and company, the Hounds (11-16, 6-12 LSC) managed to pull off a 58-56 victory at Kingsville to qualify for the eighth and final seed for this year's tournament, and in the process, snapped a four-game losing streak, heading into that deciding contest.

"What made it a little bit better for us is that we knew the scenario coming in," Segler said of the pressure on his team, heading into the Kingsville game. "We knew that game would decide who would get in, no matter what. We kinda figured it would come down to that game, and it helped prepare my kids for the long haul."

That long haul features a tall task at hand, as ENMU opens the tournament tonight in Frisco, Texas at 7:30 p.m. MST against No. 1 seed and arch-rival, West Texas A&M (25-3, 15-3). The Buffs are the class of the league, and have certainly shown that against Eastern, with wins of 99-69 and 82-63 against the Greyhounds this year.

Tonight's matchup will be the nightcap of the tournament's quarterfinal round, as No. 3 Tarleton State battles No. 6 Cameron at 11 a.m., followed by No. 2 UT-Permian Basin and No. 7 Midwestern State at 1:30 p.m., before No. 4 Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 5 Angelo State immediately preceed WT and ENMU at 5 p.m.

The games, however, have been moved to Texas Woman's University due to a facility issue that postponed three of the four women's games scheduled for Thursday.

Should Eastern advance to Saturday's semifinal, it would face the Commerce/Angelo winner at 7:30 p.m.. The LSC title game, meanwhile, takes place on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

However, Eastern has to find a way to get past West Texas first. And while the Hounds have certainly struggled against the Buffs thus far, one cannot overlook the power of a rivalry game — nor a third matchup. "When I was at Midwestern, we kinda sat in the same position as West Texas A&M," Segler explained.

"They've got a lot of confidence right now, and they're playing very well on offense. It's an interesting clash of styles, because they're doing a lot on offense, while we pride ourselves on great defense. We'll see who comes out on top."

Segler, who's still getting over the excitement of the Kingsville win, referred to the win as an, "Extraordinary investment, because Kingsville knocked us out (last year), (meaning that) it was like payback." He will have a big task ahead of him come tonight, but should his Hounds find a way to pull off the upset, they'll certainly have as good of a chance as anyone to win the whole thing.

For the record, Eastern has a combined record of 4-8 against those other schools in 2017-18, with wins over Cameron, Angelo, Tarleton and Commerce. For the Greyhounds to have any shot at making a serious tourney run, however, they'll need a few guys to step up, including an unsung hero.

"Andre Hughes has played really well in some bursts," Segler said of his 6-foot-8, senior forward. "He doesn't always show up on the stat sheets, but he has great intangibles, and really great practices lately.

"Zach Parker is obviously our leading scorer, but he's had some games where he's passed and moved the ball really well. He's the kind of guy who's one 3 (point shot) away from exploding."