SILVER CITY, N.M. – With the game going back-and-forth down the stretch, it came down to one final shot. With the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team holding a two-point lead with just seconds left, Chadron State College pushed it up court and went for the win and Evan Brooks' three just missed leaving the Mustangs with an exciting 78-76 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.

WNMU (2-14, 2-10 RMAC) jumped out early 10-0 with Gavin Wood (Florence, AZ/Florence ) hitting a pair of three's and then back-to-back jumpers from Steven Loucks (Yuma, AZ/Cibola). CSC (3-13, 2-10 RMAC) would come back to tie and then take a 24-22 lead with 8:22 to play in the opening half.

The Mustangs, though, had an answer with an 8-0 spurt with Marcos Castrillo (San Francisco, CA/Pinole Valley) delivering a layup, a three-point-play by Loucks and then a three-pointer by Loucks had WNMU in front, 30-24.

The Eagles would come back to regain the lead before Brandon Tanter (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep) closed the half with a three to give WNMU a 37-36 lead at halftime.

The Mustangs looked to be in good shape moving ahead by six with 6:32 to play after a three by Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver), but CSC kept fighting back.

The Eagles would trim the deficit down to one at 64-63 with 4:44 to play, just to have WNMU come back with another run to go back ahead by seven. With the lead still at seven with 34 seconds to play, the Eagles nearly came all the way back for the win.

A three by Roderick Butler and then another three by Brooks had the lead at just one, 75-74, with 13 seconds to play. Following a pair of free throws by Brandon Williams (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep), the Mustangs went for the foul ahead by three. Kendrick Holliman ended up sinking both to make it a one-point game again with six seconds to play.

Terrez Scott (Santa Clarita, CA/Valencia) would add one of two foul shots to make it a 78-76 game and the Eagles had one last shot to either tie or win. They pushed the ball the length of the floor and Brooks shot at the buzzer from the left wing, but the shot fell just short giving WNMU the two-point win.

Castrillo led WNMU with 17 points, while three other Mustangs tallied double-figures including Loucks (16), Scott (15) and Kesler (10). Loucks nearly tallied a double-double with nine rebounds. Scott dished out six assists, while three Mustangs had at least two steals (Tanter, Loucks and Williams).

Brooks led the Eagles with 22 points. WNMU shot their second-best field goal percentage of the season of 54.5 (30-55). They also went 9-of-19 (47.4) from three. The Eagles connected on 26-of-59 (44.1) and tallied a 10-of-26 (38.5) effort from three. WNMU held the edge on points in the paint (38-30) and points off turnovers (18-13).

WNMU will return to action this coming Saturday at in-state rival New Mexico Highlands beginning at 4 p.m.