Box Score HILO, Hawaii – With less than five seconds to play, the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team turned to Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) and he delivered with a game-winning shot with one second to play sending the Mustangs past the host Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans, 61-60, Tuesday night during day two of the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort Thanksgiving Tournament.


Western New Mexico University (WNMU) looked to be in good shape, leading by five, 56-51, with eight minutes to play in the game following a jumper by Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School).


University of Hawaii-Hilo (UHH) came back with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 56 with 5:25 to play.


From that point on the teams would trade one-point leads. WNMU (1-2) came back to take the lead a minute later when Luttrell split a pair from the line for the 57-56 advantage. UHH (1-3) converted a jumper over a minute later to take a 58-57 lead with three minutes to play.


Carter then began to take over, hitting a jumper with two minutes to play to pull WNMU back in front, 59-58. It would remain that way for a while until the Vulcans had a chance at some free throws with seconds left. But, both shots were missed and as the second one flew off the rim, Brandon Thomas collected the rebound for UHH and put it back in for a big bucket to boost the Vulcans in front by one, 60-59, with less than five seconds to play. WNMU in-bounded and UHH, with a foul to give, committed it leaving three seconds to play. The Mustangs threw it in from under the basket and found Carter who drilled the jumper leaving one second to play and a 61-60 lead. UHH had no time and having to go the whole floor couldn't get a shot off giving WNMU the incredible one-point win.


The Mustangs opened the game strong jumping out to a 12-4 lead six minutes in with Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) and Carter hitting jumpers and Brelan Berry (Chandler, AZ/Basha High School) split a pair from the line for the eight-point lead.


The lead would reach nine, 15-6, on a three from Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) at the 12:25 mark. UHH would work their way back into the game, eventually taking the lead at 31-29 with 3:37 to go before halftime.


They would hold a two-point lead, 33-31, into halftime.


The Vulcans kept a five-point lead throughout the early parts of the second half, with the last coming at 14 minutes to play when WNMU began to swing momentum back in their favor.


The Mustangs regained the lead with 12 minutes to play on a jumper by Luttrell, 48-47. The lead would stretch to three a couple of times before reaching five with eight minutes to play when the teams went back-and-forth down the stretch.


Both teams shot under 40 percent, with WNMU close to the 40 percent mark (25-64) and UHH just under 36 percent (19-53). WNMU held UHH to a 34.8 percentage (8-23) in the second half, while they shot 46.7 percent (14-30). UHH held an advantage in both three-pointers made (6-4) and free throws made (16-7) as they attempted 18 more foul shots than the Mustangs (29-11).


Luttrell paced the Mustangs with 12 points and eight rebounds. Carter was the other Mustang in double-digits with 10, as he was limited to just 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Branch just missed a double-double going for nine points and 11 rebounds. Daryl Littleton (Tucson, AZ/Palo Verde High School) tallied six points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench in 13 minutes.


WNMU will close out their trip in Hawaii Wednesday night against Maryville (Mo.) with game time set for 5 p.m. Hawaii Time or 8 p.m. MST. Maryville split their first two games so far in Hawaii, Defeating Hawaii-Hilo and falling to Montana-Billings.

 
WESTERN NEW MEXICO 61, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO 60
WESTERN NEW MEXICO (1-2)
Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 4-7 2-4 12; Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 5-9 0-0 10; Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) 4-10 1-2 9;
Andy Sohlich (Battle Creek, MI/St. Phillip Catholic Central High School) 2-7 2-2 7; Daryl Littleton (Tucson, AZ/Palo Verde High School) 3-6 0-0 6; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 3-13 0-0 6;
Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 2-4 1-1 6; Brelan Berry (Chandler, AZ/Basha High School) 2-7 1-2 5; Nate Murdock (Phoenix, AZ/Pinnacle High School) 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
25-64 7-11 61.
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO (1-3)
Bautasa, Paul 3-4 1-3 10; Melonas, Michael 3-8 3-6 9; Swanson, Lucas 4-13
0-0 9; Looper, Robert 3-7 3-4 9; Thomas, Brandon 2-5 4-6 8; Myers, Kiel 2-7
3-4 7; CJ Brown 1-5 2-4 5; Owens, Derek 1-2 0-2 3; Hearn, Mychael 0-2 0-0 0;
Mavungu, Oxone-Ross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 16-29 60.
Western New Mexico............   31   30  -   61
University of Hawaii at Hilo..   33   27  -   60
3-point goals--Western New Mexico 4-22 (Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 2-5; Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 1-3;
Andy Sohlich (Battle Creek, MI/St. Phillip Catholic Central High School) 1-4; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 0-6; Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) 0-2; Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 0-2),
University of Hawaii at Hilo 6-16 (Bautasa, Paul 3-4; CJ Brown 1-2; Swanson,
Lucas 1-6; Owens, Derek 1-1; Myers, Kiel 0-3). Fouled out--Western New
Mexico-None, University of Hawaii at Hilo-None. Rebounds--Western New Mexico
41 (Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) 11), University of Hawaii at Hilo 40 (CJ Brown 7).
Assists--Western New Mexico 10 (Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 7), University of Hawaii at Hilo
15 (CJ Brown 5). Total fouls--Western New Mexico 17, University of Hawaii at
Hilo 13. Technical fouls--Western New Mexico-None, University of Hawaii at
Hilo-None. A-402