Box Score SILVER CITY, N.M. – Needing wins at home to make a push for the postseason, the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team took advantage as they won their third straight game at home with a 71-66 victory over CSU-Pueblo on Saturday night inside Drag's Court in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.


Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) started the game with a bang for WNMU (8-11, 8-7 RMAC) with a three-pointer forty seconds in to open the scoring.


After CSU-P (9-10, 6-9 RMAC) answered back to take a two-point lead, Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) connected on two free throws to tie the game early on at five. The slow developing run continued, with Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) tallying a layup and after Carter threw down a dunk the Mustangs had a 9-5 lead almost halfway through a low scoring first half.


The lead would reach six and two freebies by TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School). The Thunderwolves thundered back to trim the deficit to one a pair of times, with the last coming at 13-12 before a Mustang charge came back the other way in the form of a hard slash to the hoop by Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) in which he converted the layup and the foul shot to follow for a four-point lead.


Edward Estavillo (Willcox, AZ/Willcox High School) then came through with a couple of big three-pointers, one to move the lead to six and after CSU-P answered with a jumper, Estavillo calmly delivered his second three to open a seven-point lead, 22-15, with six minutes to go before halftime.


CSU-P came back with a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to tie the game at 22 and after the fourth tie of the game came at 26, the Mustangs would end up tallying three free throws, one from Carter and two from Riley to take a 31-28 lead into the locker room.


The Thunderwolves opened the scoring in the second stanza with a trey to tie the game at 31, but the tie didn't last long with Carter drilling a wing three off the fastbreak and then a tough jumper in the paint to open a 36-31 lead two minutes in.


Like before, the resilient Thunderwolves refused to go away, biting back with a 7-0 run to take a 38-36 lead.


WNMU finally began to open the game up following the ninth tie of the game at 40.


Carter broke what would be the final tie of the game with another jumper and after Riley had a defensive rebound and transition layup, he added one of two foul shots on the next trip down for a five-point advantage.


The Mustang express didn't slow up, with Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) connecting on a layup off a nice pass from Suarez then Suarez called his own number laying it in for two following a Daryl Littleton (Tucson, AZ/Palo Verde High School) pass for a 49-40 lead and 9-0 run.


CSU-P still had another run or two left in them, cutting the deficit back to four and later down to five after the Mustangs had the lead back at nine with 3:58 to play.


That's when WNMU finally put the game out of reach with Carter hitting two from the foul line and then he put a thunder into the crowd and the Thunderwolves with a rocking dunk off a steal and pass from Suarez that had the crowd buzzing for minutes and gave WNMU a 10-point lead as Carter was also fouled on the play in which he hit the foul shot.


CSU-P would hit some deep and difficult three-pointers to get the lead back down to four a couple of times over the final minute, but that would be as close as they would get.


Carter had a monster game going for 21 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 32 minutes. Riley found his way into double-figures with 14 points, as he went 12-of-14 from the foul line. Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) (9) and Suarez (9) were the next closest in scoring.


The win moved WNMU into a tie with New Mexico Highlands for the sixth spot in the conference, as the top eight make the RMAC Shootout.


WNMU will hit the road next week as they will play at Fort Lewis on Friday night with tipoff set for 8 p.m.  
 

CSU-Pueblo vs Western New Mexico
01/28/12 7:35 pm at Silver City, NM (Drag's Court)
At Silver City, NM (Drag's Court)
WESTERN NEW MEXICO 71, CSU-PUEBLO 66
CSU-PUEBLO (9-10, 6-9 RMAC)
Ty Trahern 6-11 5-7 20; Bryse Velasquez 4-10 1-3 12; Andre Martin 4-8 1-2 9;
Ryan Arel 3-7 0-0 8; Jed Knafelc 2-4 1-2 7; Kevin Coates 1-7 4-6 7; Connor
Roumph 0-3 2-2 2; AJ Kapanoske 0-4 1-4 1; Bryan Horton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
20-54 15-26 66.
WESTERN NEW MEXICO (8-11, 8-7 RMAC)
Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 7-12 6-8 21; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 1-10 12-14 14; Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) 4-5 1-3 9;
Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 3-6 3-3 9; Edward Estavillo (Willcox, AZ/Willcox High School) 2-6 0-0 6; Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 1-4 3-4 6;
Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 2-11 0-2 4; Daryl Littleton (Tucson, AZ/Palo Verde High School) 1-2 0-0 2; Chris Mason (Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's High School) 0-3 0-0 0.
Totals 21-59 25-34 71.
CSU-Pueblo....................   28   38  -   66
Western New Mexico............   31   40  -   71
3-point goals--CSU-Pueblo 11-34 (Bryse Velasquez 3-6; Ty Trahern 3-6; Ryan
Arel 2-6; Jed Knafelc 2-4; Kevin Coates 1-5; Connor Roumph 0-3; Andre Martin
0-4), Western New Mexico 4-26 (Edward Estavillo (Willcox, AZ/Willcox High School) 2-6; Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 1-4; Chad
Carter 1-2; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 0-3; Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 0-5; Chris Mason (Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's High School) 0-3; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School)
0-3). Fouled out--CSU-Pueblo-Andre Martin, Western New Mexico-None.
Rebounds--CSU-Pueblo 39 (Andre Martin 9), Western New Mexico 45 (Merle
Branch 10). Assists--CSU-Pueblo 12 (Bryse Velasquez 4), Western New Mexico
13 (TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 6). Total fouls--CSU-Pueblo 25, Western New Mexico 15.
Technical fouls--CSU-Pueblo-TEAM, Western New Mexico-None. A-2235