Box Score SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Western New Mexico University men's basketball team came out of the gates ready to shoot as they shot over 53 percent in the first half and over 55 percent for the game on their way to a 81-52 victory over Western State Colorado University Saturday night in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
"A good defensive effort again tonight and this one led to a victory," first-year head coach
Jeff Law said. "We started strong on the defensive end of the floor and all of our guys played hard, which is going to have to be our recipe for success."
After WSCU (0-7, 0-4 RMAC) opened the scoring, WNMU (1-6, 1-3 RMAC) came back with a 10-0 run getting contributions from
CJ Grigg (Reno, NV/),
Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver), and
Steven Loucks (Yuma, AZ/Cibola). The lead quickly stretched to 12 at 20-8 on a three-pointer from Kesler at the 12:53 mark.
Kesler gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the first half at the 10:14 mark on a jumper for a 28-10 lead. WSCU would trim two points off the lead the rest of the half leaving the Mustangs ahead, 37-21, at the break.
The Mountaineers made an early run in the second half trimming the deficit to 10, but that would be as close as they would get.
Marcos Castrillo (San Francisco, CA/Pinole Valley) answered the run with a jumper and ignited a 12-0 run that was capped by a three-point-play from
Brelan Berry (Chandler, AZ/Basha High School) for a 50-28 lead at the 12:02 mark.
The lead reached as high as 34 with five minutes to play on a layup in transition by Castrillo.
WNMU connected on 32-of-58 (55.2) and made seven three-pointers. They held WSCU to a 32.7 clip (18-55) and four three-pointers in 21 chances. The Mountaineers held a 12-10 edge in free throws. WNMU dominated on points in the paint (42-26) and points off turnovers (25-10).
Berry led all-scorers with a career-high 22 points, making 10-of-12 from field in 26 minutes. Three other Mustangs reached double-figures in Scott with 12, Grigg with 11 and Kesler with 10. Jordan Adams led WSCU with 15 points.
WNMU returns to action next Friday on the road against CSU-Pueblo with gametime set for 5:30 p.m.
